Cooking Quest: Oyster Cake

Oyster Cake is a favorite dish that I order in Coral Garden.  Its THE best Oyster Cake if you ask me.  Its crunchy and has a LOT of oysters.  So, last week, when I saw at Fisher Mall’s supermarket that they were selling shucked oysters – I had an idea.
1)  Make my version of the XO Oyster by Tian Pao Wan
2)  Make an Oyster cake
3)  Bake them

On my first try – I cooked Oyster with Tausi because it was requested by my Panget.  It turned out okay.  On my next attempt – I tried the XO Oyster – and instead of it being crunchy, it came out makunat.  So on my third try – I wanted to do an oyster cake.  So I looked for a recipe online.  Looked and looked and wasn’t satisfied.  All recipes I saw used an egg, and I didn’t want an egg in my oyster cake.  I finally came across a recipe I liked a few days ago.  The problem was that – it asked for a particular starch – Tapioca Starch.  I started to look for it, but all my efforts were futile and so I settled for Potato starch.  And man, was I disappointed.

Since the first two attempts were just so-so, I wasn’t expecting much on this third attempt.  Yesterday, while walking around Hi-Top Supermarket, I suddenly saw Tapioca starch!  I was so happy!  My dreams of making an oyster cake was soon becoming a reality.  So this afternoon, I went to Fisher Mall confident that I would find some more oysters.  Well – I was disappointed once again – oysters were all sold out.  Sigh..  Good thing, my mom called her suki in Dapitan.  This suki referred his neighboring stall – they cost P50.00 per plastic.

I am sorry, but I was too excited on the outcome that I ate the small piece that I prepared.  I had my helpers try it and they liked it.  It was a success on the first attempt!  WONDERFUL!  Good job, Didi (with matching pat on the back)  Haha!!

So here are the ingredients:
Oysters – shucked and cleaned
Bean Sprouts
Leeks or Chives (Chives are better!!)
Tapioca Starch
Salt & Pepper to taste
Scrambled Egg (optional)

Okay – since I just experimented what I did was just to throw everything in and mix it.  Mix together the cleaned oysters, bean sprouts, leeks, tapioca starch and salt and pepper.  Mix thoroughly.  Use a non-stick pan for easier handling, heat and when you see the smoke come out from the pan, pour the mixture.  Cook until golden brown and flip over.  You can cook it longer to make it more crispy but make sure you are using the correct heat setting so as not to burn the oyster cake.  You may add the scrambled egg when it cake is golden brown.  I honestly preferred it without the egg, but I guess the egg is an extender of some sort.

I’ll be attempting to make another one tomorrow – wish me luck!!

BTW – I got the Tapioca Starch at Hi-Top Supermarket along Quezon Avenue, I’m sure you are all wondering about that.  Hehehe…

P.S.  When I made this oystercake – I didn’t use particular measurements because it was on ‘tancha’ basis and trial and error.  What I suggest you do is that you try and cook a piece or two of oysters to test the taste and add on the salt and pepper to taste.  As for the Tapioca Starch, you can just add as you wish – I wanted it to be really sticky so I added more.