Cook’s notes

If salmon is my favorite fish, oyster is my favorite shellfish. I love oysters especially when we are able to get them fresh. When I was a child, my father bought oysters by the bucket, rinsed them in a basin, drained them then poured boiling water over them. Five minutes or so later, he drained them one last time and shucked them right on the dining table. All that my brother and I had to do was eat.

Alas, shucking oysters isn’t a skill I acquired. Worse, fresh oysters aren’t very common in the hilly suburb where we live. No sea or fish port nearby. When we do see oysters in the market, they are usually small. So, imagine my glee when I found blast-frozen fully shucked oysters online.

I just let the ice melt so I could separate them then I soaked the oysters in water with starch to remove any impurities including wayward pieces of broken shell and silt that is sometimes hidden within the folds. It’s a technique I learned when I first cooked Taiwanese-style oyster omelette.

After soaking the oysters, they were drained, rinsed, drained, rinsed and drained again. They were ready to be tossed with the sauce at this point. But since I bought them frozen, I decided it was safer to blanch them before combining with the sauce.

Oysters with chili garlic lemongrass sauce

Prep: 10

Cook: 1

Total: 11

Servings: 3 people

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Asian

Label: Spicy

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Ingredients

18 to 20 shucked oysters
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Sauce

1 stalk lemongrass peeled and finely sliced
6 cloves garlic minced
1 small onion peeled and finely chopped
1 bird’s eye chili finely sliced
6 cilantro stems chopped
2 tablespoons calamansi juice lemon or lime juice may be substituted
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions

Clean and blanch the oysters

Place the oysters in a bowl, add the starch and enough water to cover. Stir to dissolve the starch. Leave to soak for five minutes.
In a pot, boil enough water to reach a depth of three inches.
Drain the oysters, rinse, drain, rinse and drain again.
Slide the oysters into the pot of boiling water, stir and leave for 10 seconds.
Scoop out, dump into a bowl of iced water, leave for a minute, pour the contents of the bowl into a strainer, and set the oysters aside.

Make the sauce

Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce. Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved.
Stir in two tablespoons of boiling water.
Taste and adjust the balance of flavor according to your preference.