I was commissioned by Chai Huat Hin to create an auspicious reunion dinner menu and show the steps in a series of cooking videos. The requirement is that it must be auspicious and friendly to busy people.
Golden Dried Oyster Rolls is one of the dishes I came up with. Here’s why:
1) Auspicious
Oyster is called ‘hou si’ in Chinese and sounds like ‘good news’. To make it even more auspicious (and tasty), I’ve decided to used salted egg for its golden orange colour. When you slice this golden dried oyster roll, you’ll see good news and gold!
The Chinese name for this dish translates to ‘Golden Good News’ (‘Kam Wong Hou Si/ 金黄蚝豉). I know, I know – it’s a little cheesy. But that’s what Chinese people like during Chinese New Year 😉
2) Make ahead and freeze
While this dish requires quite a bit of work and skills (steaming the ingredients, steaming the rolls before frying, wrapping the ingredient into a cylinder, etc), the good news is that you can make this ahead and freeze.
So during for reunion dinner, you have one less dish to make. Simply defrost the frozen dried oyster rolls and pop it into the oven to reheat!
TOOLS
- Wok
- Steam rack + wok + lid
- Mixing bowl
RECIPE CARD
Golden Dried Oyster Roll
Ingredients
- 12 pieces dried oyster, soaked for 3 hours
- 12 pieces of beancurd skin, cut into 5” squares
- 3 salted egg yolks, steamed and sliced
- Fillings
- 300 g minced pork (with 30% fat)
- 200 g fish paste
- 3 tbsp water chestnut
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp chopped coriander
- 1 tbsp chopped spring onions
- Others
- Oil for frying
Directions
- Step 1 Steam oysters for 10 minutes then fry in oil.
- Step 2 Place minced pork, fish paste, sugar, white pepper, coriander, and spring onions in a large bowl. Mix well.
- Step 3 Lay one beancurd skin on a flat surface. Place 1 tbsp meat paste, 1 dried oyster, 2 slices of salted egg yolk, and cover with another 1 tbsp of meat paste. Roll into a tight cylinder
- Step 4 Steam the oyster rolls for 10 min. Remove and set aside to cool.
- Step 5 Deep-fry oyster rolls until golden brown.
- Step 6 Slice oyster rolls into half and serve.
VIDEO
SHORT RECIPE
Steam 12 dried oysters for 10 minutes then fry in oil. Mix 300 g minced pork + 200 g fish paste + 1/4 tsp sugar + 1/4 tsp pepper + 1 tsp sesame oil + 1 tbsp coriander + 1 tbsp spring onions. On 5 x 5 inch beancurd sheet put meat paste + dried oyster + salted egg. Roll into cylinder. Steam for 10 minutes. Then deep-fry.
COOKING TIPS
- Use pork with at least 30% fats This ensures that the oyster rolls will be moist and tasty as fats retain flavour. I tried using minced pork I bought off the butcher which contains very little fat, the rolls turn out dry.
- Use Korean oyster I used a high quality dried oyster from Korea.
- Do not skip frying oyster in oil In an attempt to make this dish healthier and easier, I tried just steaming the oyster without frying it. But it turned out to taste significantly less delicious.
- Buy pre-made fish paste for convenience You should be able to get pre-made fish paste from the wet market.
- Make this a week ahead of Chinese New Year and store in a container to freeze After frying, let it chill and keep it in a Tupperware. On reunion dinner night, simply defrost and reheat in the oven. Easy peasy!
Here’s one auspicious dish that you can prepare ahead for Chinese New Year reunion dinner!