I am so excited to announce that I am featured on the front page of the Food section of the Boston Globe today (!).
I was thrilled and in utter disbelief when they contacted me about two weeks ago asking if I was interested in being featured. They said they were especially interested in my Taiwanese background and wanted to feature Taiwanese cuisine, which is a bit more unusual.
The writer Brooke came over to my home and we cooked Taiwanese food together. A Globe photographer, Lane, also came and took tons of photos. It was surreal. And yes, that’s why I was working so hard to clean up my kitchen a couple weeks ago.
The article focuses on my Taiwanese roots and includes a recipe for the comforting Taiwanese meat sauce that Brooke and I made together.
In honor of the publication of the article, I thought it would be fun to make one of the most famous, iconic, and classic Taiwanese street dishes around: the Taiwanese Oyster Omelet.
Known as “ô-á-chian” [SAY “uh-ah jen”] (蚵仔煎), which literally means oyster pan-fry, this small dish is especially popular in the night markets of Taiwan. You’ll see people frying these up in open air stalls using fresh, local Taiwanese oysters (which are much, much smaller than the ones we’re used to seeing in the U.S.).
They key ingredient (aside from oysters, of course) is sweet potato starch, which you can easily find in Asian grocery stores. I have seen them in both Chinese and Korean grocery stores. Of course, there’s also Amazon (affiliate link). The sweet potato starch gives the omelet its characteristic gelatinous, slight chewy “QQ” (as Taiwanese like to call it) texture. It’s my favorite part of the oyster omelet.
I like this recipe because it’s super easy, tasty, and came from Taiwanese moms in America who wrote the book Homestyle Cooking of Taiwan, my favorite source for Taiwanese recipes (updated version of the book available here).
There are two ways you can make the pancake. You can either mix together the egg with the sweet potato starch at the beginning (resulting in a more consistent looking omelet), or cook the two parts separately, resulting in more interesting textural contrast between “eggy” bits and gelatinous sweet potato starch bits. After trying both ways, I decided I preferred cooking them separately, but I’ll show you both (since they’re both still really tasty).
Mix together sweet potato starch with water. The ratio is essentially 1/2 cup sweet potato starch for every 1 cup of water and 2 eggs. Multiply according to how many pancakes/omelets you want to make (rule of thumb: approximately one egg per omelet). Add salt, white pepper, and optionally garlic powder.
I decided to make two omelets, so I whisked together 1/2 cup sweet potato starch with 1 cup of water. If you’re not confident about the freshness of your oysters, you may want to quickly stir fry them first. If you don’t mind them being slightly raw-ish, feel free to cook everything together. I just threw my oysters right into the starch batter.
Because Taiwanese oysters tend to be much smaller than U.S. oysters, this recipe works better with smaller oyster pieces. If your oysters are too big, cut them into bite-sized pieces, about 1 to 1.5 inches wide.
Make your omelets one at a time.
Heat up your wok really hot (on high!) and then add the oil. Make sure to be reasonably generous, since you don’t want it to stick. High temperature cooking oil like grapeseed oil is preferable, but canola oil worked fine for me. Add one serving of the batter (in my case, half of the bowl) and let it sizzle for 10-15 seconds. Lower the heat to medium. After about 5 minutes (or when the batter looks cooked and is gelatinous/clear), add the green leafy vegetables. I used spinach, but you can use Taiwanese lettuce (A-choy), chrysanthemum greens (tong hao), or other quick cooking greens.
Add one egg and mix it around a bit if you want. You can leave the yolk whole too, if you prefer a slightly runnier yolk.
Flipping is challenging! A real pro would be able to flip it effortlessly probably with just some slick wrist action on the wok. I resorted to using a spatula, and still sort of made a mess, albeit a beautiful, glorious, tasty-looking mess.
Frankly, it almost doesn’t matter how ugly it looks underneath, because you’ll slather it with sweet chili sauce and fresh cilantro anyway.
Yum . . . .
And if you are really short on time and just feel like mixing the eggs and the sweet potato starch batter all together at once, that works too.
It’s neater and easier to deal with, but the end result tastes more uniform. It still has a super soft, slightly springy gelatinous texture from the sweet potato starch, but it’s not quite the same.
Honestly, both omelets were delicious. I do prefer the version that separates the eggs and sweet potato starch, mostly because of the interesting textural differences.
If you don’t want to deal with oysters, you can easily make this dish vegetarian by omitting the oysters (it will taste different, but will still be good). I can imagine it tasting pretty good with cooked mushrooms! You can experiment and substitute other seafood as well. Ideally, from a textural perspective, oysters work the best because they have a similar texture – that slight gelatinous, gooeyness – that works well with the rest of the omelet.
Enjoy!
Stay tuned for a few more posts with some really simple, everyday home cooking recipes, courtesy of my mom. 🙂
- 6-8 small, raw oysters ( or 3-4 big ones, chopped into 1 inch pieces)
- 1/2 cup sweet potato starch
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp vegetable oil (e.g., grapeseed oil)
- 1 cup raw green leafy vegetable (e.g., Taiwanese A-choy, baby spinach, chrysanthemum leaves / tong hao)
- 2 eggs
- sweet chili sauce
- Rinse oysters in water and drain.
- Mix together sweet potato starch, water, salt, white pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl and whisk together until well combined. Add oysters to batter.
- Add oil to wok set on high heat.
- Add half the batter to the wok allowing it to sizzle briefly (about 10 seconds). Lower the heat to medium and let set until the starch pancake is translucent (about 5 minutes). Optionally flip halfway through.
- Add half of the leafy greens.
- Break one egg into the wok, optionally spreading the yolk around. When the egg is set, flip the entire pancake around. Don’t worry if it breaks (these are hard to flip!). Cook for another minute or so, and then remove from the wok.
- Add sweet chili sauce and freshly chopped cilantro as garnish.
- Serve!
Congrats on the wonderful feature!! How cool to read a little bit more about you, your life, and background. I actually just returned from a short trip to Taipei (my first time there in over ten years), which my husband and I visited mainly to eat. 🙂 Looking forward to the upcoming homestyle recipes!
Thanks so much! I haven’t been to Taiwan since 2011. It’s really time to return!
This is one of my favorite Taiwanese dishes! I always have to eat it when I go back to visit Taiwan. I haven’t mustered up the courage to try making it on my own though. I hope to change that soon!
Jen, that is so awesome that you’re in the Globe today! I read the article and loved it!
Oyster omelets are one of my dad’s favorite dishes; I’ll have to try to make it for him some day. =)
Thanks!! I was surprised how easy it was, really. It’s been years since I’ve had one in Taiwan, though, so I can’t really tell you how close this one is to a street version. 🙂 But I like it. 🙂
Hi Jen, where did you get the oysters? Did you shuck them yourself or buy them already shucked?
I would have LOVED to have shucked them myself. I heard Wegman’s will do it for you, actually, and the prices are reasonable. I just bought a refrigerated tub of pre-shucked oysters from HMart in Cambridge. 🙂
Okay, last question (I hope!): what do I do with the salt, white pepper, and garlic powder?
Oops, sorry I didn’t get back to you in time! Looks like you already made it. You mix the salt, white pepper, and garlic powder together into the yam starch mixture. I will update the recipe. Thanks!
MAZEL TOV, Jennifer!!! I am SO PROUD of you k your amazing work!! I knew when I met you as a little girl, that like the rest of your family, you were very special!!
Somehow, my computer ( probably the cloud) erased your direct contact info., but I am THRILLED a for you!!
Nina, THANK YOU! The Globe writer told me she talked to you on the phone. Thanks so much for sharing the stories about my mom. 🙂 We’ll have to get together again sometime!
Congratulations on the Globe feature! You write an amazing blog and I love reading about all your food adventures! 🙂
Thanks Sharon!
is it possible to use corn starch for this recipe?
I don’t think the texture will be right if you use corn starch.
Thank you Jen, I grew up in Taiwan but end up finding your recipe and learning from you!
Sweet potato starch vs potato starch any difference since u mentioned foreword but on recipes says potatoes starch ty lmk
And big congrats bg blogs
It should all be sweet potato starch. I have updated the blog accordingly. Thanks!
Jen
What if no sweet potato starch ? substitute? Ty
Not sure, maybe try tapioca starch?