China · Home-style
Steamed Oysters with Garlic
Coastal home cooking at its plainest: oysters opened on the half shell, steamed in two stages and topped with ginger, garlic and a little soy.
Cooking oysters this way is a matter of not doing much, which is exactly why it belongs to fishing households along the coast, where oysters are eaten within hours of the tide going out. They go in whole so the juices stay around the meat, and the shells are cracked back only after the first blast of steam. Two stages of steaming matter: the first loosens the oyster, the second cooks it with its topping.
Ingredients
- drinking water1 l
- fresh oysters6 pieces
- scallions3 pieces
- garlic6 pieces
- soy sauce1 ml
Directions
- 1
Scrub the oysters clean with a brush, or a toothbrush if you have no brush.
- 2
Put water in the steamer, set the rack in place, lay the six oysters out flat on it and steam on fifty percent power for three minutes.
- 3
Holding a damp cloth in your right hand, lift the hot lid, crack the top half off each shell and discard it. Set each oyster rounded side down and flat side up, and top each one with a strand of ginger and 10 g of chopped garlic.
- 4
Close the hot lid and steam on full power for three and a half minutes.
- 5
Turn off the heat and, again with a cloth in your right hand, lift the lid and add 5 ml of soy sauce to each oyster.
Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.