Hong Kong Style Crispy Oyster Omelette

Prepare a bowl of water and submerge 300g fresh oysters. Gently touch and feel with your hands to pick out any sharp oyster shell fragments, then lift the oysters into a colander to drain.

Transfer the oysters to a clean bowl and add about 10g tapioca starch (around 2 tsp). Gently rub with hands so the starch absorbs the slime and fishy odour from the oysters.

Turn on a gentle stream of running water to wash off the starch, rinsing about 3 times until the water runs clear. Drain oysters in a colander, then spread them on paper towels and gently press to pat dry completely.

Finely chop 15g coriander, 15g green garlic shoot, and 20g green onion into small bits and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 30ml water (about 2 tbsp) and 20g tapioca starch (about 2 tbsp). Stir well until the starch dissolves completely into a smooth slurry.

Crack 2 eggs into the starch slurry, add 15ml fish sauce (1 tbsp) and 1.5g white pepper powder (1/3 tsp). Whisk thoroughly with a fork until homogenous and lump-free.

Heat a wok over medium fire, pour in about 200ml cooking oil, and heat until oil temperature reaches around 160°C (slight ripples appear on oil surface).

Add the dried 300g oysters, chopped green onion, coriander, and green garlic shoot into the egg batter, and gently stir with a spoon until combined.

Pour the combined oyster batter evenly into hot oil wok. Let sit untouched for the first 10 seconds. Turn to medium-low fire; poke small holes in the middle with a spatula once edges set to let hot oil cook the center. Fry bottom until golden (about 1 min). Flip over to fry the other side, then turn to high heat for 1 minute to push out oil and crisp up.

Scoop up the golden crispy oyster omelette with a slotted spatula, hold at the side of the wok to drain off excess oil, transfer onto a serving plate, garnish with fresh coriander on top and serve.