Saturday, February 9, 2008

Garlic Ginger Oysters

I had some oysters leftover from Mardi Gras.
These were jarred oysters, extra small size.

I decided to sautee the oysters with garlic and ginger.

The fixins'

Oysters - I had about 3/4 of a 10 ounce jar of extra small oysters
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 green onion - chopped
1/2 tsp ginger chopped

Not shown - a corn starch slurry
1/2 tsp corn starch
1 to 1.5 tsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup water

I usually don't use corn starch, but I figured the corn starch would thicken the juices which should help the flavors "cling" to the oysters. I believe some Chinese restaurants will lightly coat the oysters and quickly deep fry the oysters before adding to the final sauce. The coating also help the gravy cling to the oysters.



The cooking -
Heat a saute pan and add about 1 tablespoon of oil.
When the oil is hot, add the garlic, ginger and green onions to slightly brown and flavor the oil.
Add the oysters and saute for about 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the corn starch mixture and let it thicken - with corn starch as soon as it comes to boil, that's as thick as he mixture will get.

I had extra gravy and didn't want to waste it so I added white rice and let it soak up the flavors.

Garlicky, slight hot from the ginger, but I added an extra dab of chile paste.
Oysters may look odd, but they oysters are slightly sweet and the flavors are very nice.