Seared Golden Oyster – Quick-to-cook Delicacy

I love dried oyster. In fact I grew up eating dried oysters in many forms and dishes. Most commonly seen at home would be the classic Cantonese dried oyster porridge with dried sole fish, or the must-have Chinese New Year reunion dish: dried mushroom, oyster and black moss stew.

When I moved to Hong Kong in 2007, I saw semi-dried, huge oysters stringed on bamboo sticks. Later, I found out that it was a delicacy, in which fresh oysters were sunned for a few days before hitting the market. The taste is more robust than the fresh ones, but less “smoky” than dried oysters.

Cooking these oysters is easy. Marinate them with Chinese wine, salt and sugar, then steam them for a couple of minutes and finish them by searing with honey. I made a slight twist at the final stage, for I love the taste of Balsamic vinegar reduction with oyster.

So, here is my version. Enjoy!

Seared Golden Oyster

Semi-dried oysters                            12

Peanut oil                                             2 tbsp

Balsamic vinegar                                1 tbsp

Sugar                                                      ½ tsp

Marinate:

Chinese yellow wine                        2 tbsp

Ginger juice                                         1 tbsp

Premium soy sauce                          1 tbsp

Sugar                                                     1 tsp

Salt                                                         ¼ tsp

White pepper                                     ¼ tsp

Method:

1. Remove oyster from the bamboo stick carefully.
2. Brush the side of oyster with a brush under running water.
3. Marinate oyster for 10 minutes.
4. Steam oyster for 20 minutes.
5. Remove oyster and drain thoroughly. Keep the juice aside.
6. Slightly brown oyster with peanut oil on both sides. Remove and set aside.
7. Using the same pan, reduce oyster juice, balsamic vinegar and sugar until they thicken. Adjust taste accordingly.
8. Toss oyster in the reduction until well mixed.
9. Serve immediately.

Pickled Crab – A Small Forgotten Delight

How often, and easily, a dish disappears from our memory…

A short conversation with a friend brought me back to a dark bottle of preserved crabs, often displayed in old provision shops back in the late 60s.

Even though it was a common side dish with the Teochew, I recall eating these pickled crabs only once -- when I was very young. Back then in the 60s, the majority of people earned meager salaries, and these little crabs would often be the only dish in a meal, eaten with a bowl of plain porridge. They are called Wa Kee.

Photo by Mark Ong

Wa Kee are tree-climbing crabs that inhabit the mangrove swamps. They are parasitic and burrow in the mud, and feed on the propagules, or buds, of the mangrove plant. The crabs emerge at dusk and are known to climb as high as 6 metres up a tree to forage for food. To harvest them, a net is held at the base of the tree, and a long stick used to scare or dislodge the crabs, which then drop into the net.

The Teochew pickle them in vinegar or soy sauce, while the Thai like the crabs salted or deep-fried. Sadly, these crabs have become hard to find in Singapore.

Pickled Crab

Wa Kee                                         300 g, live

Fresh coriander                         2 tbsp, minced

Seasoning

Sichuan pepper                         ¼ tsp

Coriander seeds                        ¼ tsp

Soy sauce                                     2 cups

Garlic                                             4 cloves

Chili padi                                      2, sliced thinly

Sugar                                            2 tsp

Method:

1. Soak live crabs in clean water for 2 days, changing water every 6 hours. Pat dry.
2. Pan-fry Sichuan pepper and coriander seeds in a dry pan until fragrant. Pour soy sauce and garlic. Simmer for 3 minutes and remove from heat. Add chili padi and sugar; stir thoroughly until the sugar dissolves. Let it rest to room temperature.
3. Add crabs and submerge them.
4. Keep it in a fridge for at least 24 hours.
5. Add fresh coriander before serving.

Chicken Rice -- You say Cantonese, I say Hainanese

Chicken was a luxury in the 1960s. At a time when a bowl of mee pok tah was all of just 20 cents, the 70-cent cost of a plate of chicken rice was princely. And no surprise then, that chicken drumstick was a special treat reserved for birthdays. Therefore choosing the right chicken rice stall on which to ‘splurge’ one’s hard-earned cash truly mattered!

My gold standard, back then, for chicken rice was a stall parked inside Great Wall Kopitiam along Keong Saik Street, where the popular porridge stall, Tiong Shian Porridge Centre, now stands. Run by two young guys, their Cantonese-style chicken and rice were the best: the meat succulent and cooked just right, leaving the marrow still pinkish; and the rice and chili sauce good enough to wolf down on their own.

My amah never failed to remind me (and everyone else!) of an incident. The 70-cent portion was served on a single plate – sliced chicken on a mound of rice -- just like today. The $1.50 ‘deluxe’ set would get you a plate of rice, with much more chicken on a separate plate. However, spoiled and broke as I was, I insisted on having the ‘deluxe’  style -- but at 70 cents. The stall owner naturally refused; whereupon I threw such a big tantrum that he relented. Being all of ten years old at the time, I got away with it!

These days, most diners, and even stallholders themselves, often confuse the Hainanese for Cantonese chicken rice. Signboards or menus say ‘Hainanese’ but what you actually get is Cantonese. The difference? The Hainanese do not soak their chicken in icy cold water after boiling it, hence there is no jelly-like layer of gelatin developing just beneath the skin.

The chicken is soaked in room-temperature water for 30 minutes or so, then dripped dry and placed on a tray, covered with a piece of towel. The Cantonese, on the other hand, plunge the chicken in icy water then hang it to drip dry, leaving theirs with the thin gelatinous layer below the skin.

Cooking chicken and its rice is simple. Everyone seems to have his or her own little trick for a good version; here’s mine.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Chicken                      1

Ginger juice                2 tbsp

Chinese wine              1 tbsp

Salt                              3 tbsp

Spring onion               2 stalks

Ginger                         3 slices, thickly sliced

Pandan leaves             1 stalk, bruised

Water                          7 litres

Chicken stock             2 litres

Oil                               2 tbsp

Rice:

Rice                             3 cups

Chicken stock             3 cups

Ginger                         2 slices, thickly sliced

Pandan leaves             4, bruised

Salt                              1½ tsp

Chicken oil                  4 tbsp

Chili Sauce:

Red chili                      5, minced

Chili padi                     2, minced

Ginger                         4 mm, bashed and minced

Garlic                           5 cloves, bashed and minced

Calamansi juice           5 tbsp

Chicken broth             3 tbsp

Salt                              ½ tsp

Sugar                           1 tbsp

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with ginger juice and Chinese wine for 30 minutes. Rinse and drain.
2. Boil a pot of water (2 litres) and chicken stock. Add spring onion (1 stalk), 2 slices of ginger, pandan leaves, and boil for 5 minutes in high heat. Add 1 tbsp of salt and turn off the heat. Let it rest and cool to room temperature. This is to ‘cool’ the chicken immediately after being boiled.
3. Boil another pot of water (5 litres) with the remaining spring onion and ginger. Add 2 tbsp of salt. Holding chicken by the neck, plunge it into the boiling water. When the water starts to boil, remove the chicken. Wait for the water to boil rapidly again, then plunge the chicken in and repeat the step two more times. On the third plunge, leave the chicken submerged in the water. Let the water boil for 1 minute. Cover with lid and turn off the heat. Leave the chicken for 40 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken and plunge it into the pot of room-temperature chicken stock and leave it submerged for 30 minutes.
5. Remove chicken, drain and lay flat on a plate, cover with a wet towel until it is ready to be chopped and served.

Chicken Rice:

1. Wash and drain rice in a colander for 30 minutes.
2. Saute ginger with 1 tbsp of oil until it turns slightly brown. Add chicken stock and boil.
3. Add rice and pandan leaves to boiling stock. Boil until the water subsides to the level of the rice.
4. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Add the remaining oil, salt, and stir thoroughly, continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Mix the rice thoroughly again. Close the lid and turn off the heat.
7. Let it rest for another 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Chili Sauce:

1. Mince chilies and ginger finely.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
3. The sauce should be sour and a tad sweet.

Going Nuts!

Those who grew up before 1975 would remember -- life was so much simpler then. Color television was then a rare luxury; in fact the majority of households didn’t even own a ‘black-and-white’ television!

Much of my childhood was spent in Chinatown. The hill where Kreta Ayer Theatre now stands was the centre of activity for my neighborhood. Back then there was no theatre; in its place, instead, were a small community centre and a crèche, and a huge empty plot of land.

Come nightfall, a professional storyteller – an old man -- would set up his stall, which consisted of a small wooden box, a kerosene lamp, and 20 or so wooden stools. Night after night on the hill, his voice would echo. He would narrate tales from the Chinese classics – the cases of Justice Bao, the exploits of warriors of The Three Kingdoms...

People would drop him coins as a donation, or as rental for the stools, and these would be his earnings.  While the adults listened to the stories, the youngsters would play on the nearby seesaw or the community centre’s basketball court. The cool evening air would also draw out courting couples and strollers to the open grounds.

Hawkers would set up food stalls: ice kachang, fruits, drinks, and one particular snack that I loved dearly -- steamed peanuts. This hawker would ride his trishaw-cart, which held a huge basket of peanuts kept warm by a pot of simmering water below it. Five cents would buy one a tiny paper bag full. The peanuts would be too hot to handle, making splitting the shell open a challenge -- but the reward would be soft, steaming, succulent peanuts!

Sadly, this simple treat is not as ubiquitous as it once was, so I’ve decided to recreate it, adding some spices to enliven it!

Since, this is the eve of Lunar New Year 2013. I would like to wish everyone

花开福贵 ＊＊ 生意兴隆

Spicy Boiled Peanuts

Peanuts (with husks)               1 kg

Cinnamon                                 2 sticks

Star anise                                  2

Fennel seeds                            ½ tsp

Sichuan peppercorn                1 tsp

Salt                                           1 tbsp

Water                                       1½ litres

Method:

1. Fry spices in a clean pan until it emits a strong fragrance. Pour it into the water and boil.
2. Add peanuts and simmer for 3 hours.
3. Strain the peanuts and serve immediately.
4. Peanuts taste best when it is warm; simply reheat it in the microwave when it gets cold.

Note: By using a pressure cooker, cooking time could be shortened to 30 minutes.