The Hirshon Deluxe Fuzhou Oyster Cake From Singapore – 福州蠔饼

My superlative Citizens of TFD Nation – hearken and attend, as I drop My unmatched gastronomic historical perspective upon you all while the sun sinks slowly down in the West and the shadows lengthen around our virtual campfire. Allow Me to regale you with tales of culinary wonder from the far-off streets of Asia, where the sun is indeed most sadly setting upon a CLASSIC of Singaporean hawker food that I REFUSE to let pass gently into that good night. Together we shall preserve the ULTIMATE authentic recipe for Fuzhou fried oyster cake – and even improve upon it a bit for posterity!

The following exceptional history of this magnificent street food is the definitive one for Fuzhou oyster cakes and is quoted with My edits from johorkaki.blogspot.com:

Known as “UFO” in Singapore and Malaysia for its signature shape, and as the name Fuzhou oyster cake suggests, the dish originated in Fuzhou, China and is also found at food stalls in Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. It is eaten at homes around the world wherever the Fuzhou (aka Fujianese) people migrated. Fuzhou oyster cake is known as 海蛎饼 or 福清海蛎饼 in China, 蚵嗲 in Taiwan and in Singapore, it is 福州蠔饼. Fuqing 福清 is a county level city of Fuzhou city, which is the provincial capital of China’s Fujian province. Fuzhou oyster cakes came from the coastal areas of Fujian province.

The coasts of Fujian such as in Fuzhou and Fuqing are rich in seafood, including oysters. There are many oyster farms around Fuzhou (and also across the Taiwan Straits in Taiwan). Since time immemorial, oysters have been part of Fujianese cuisine – the first Fujianese dishes that come to mind are Fuzhou fish ball, kompia, pepper cakes, oyster omelette and oyster cake. Fuzhou oyster cakes are found all along the Fujian coastline and Taiwan island. The dish travelled together with Fujianese migration.

The earliest migrations of Fuzhounese to Southeast Asia (known as Nanyang) was during the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644) as many Fujianese crewed the ships of Admiral Cheng Ho’s voyages. Larger waves of migration occurred in the early 1900s during the years of turmoil preceding and following the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. Many settled in British Malaya and Dutch Indonesia, while Sibu in Sarawak (British Malaya) became known as “New Fuzhou” and Yong Peng in Peninsula Malaya was referred to as “Little Fuzhou”.

During the same period, some Fujianese crossed the Pacific Ocean to California as did Toishanese (from Guangdong province) to work in the gold mines and on railways. (To this day, San Francisco is known as Old Gold Hill 旧金山 in Chinese.) In the 1990s, a wave migrated to the Chinatown in New York City’s Manhattan establishing an enclave known as “Little Fuzhou. Smaller numbers of Fuzhou emigre can be found in every continent.

As is the case with many cultural practices, the Fujianese brought along their food culture everywhere they went. So, Fuzhou oyster cakes are found wherever you find Fujianese, at home, if not at restaurants or food stalls.

At one stall in Quanzhou (Fujian province’s largest city), the batter for the oyster cake is hand milled from 3 parts rice and 1 part soy bean. Water is added to get the batter to the desired thickness – heavy but flowing texture. The batter is scooped into a shallow ladle. It is then topped with marinated chopped lean pork, plump fresh oysters, chopped spring onion and grated cabbage. The mound of ingredients is then blanketed with more batter till they disappear underneath.

The ladleful of batter, lean meat, oysters, and vegetables is lowered into a wok of boiling blend of peanut oil and lard. The cakes are fried till they separate from the ladle and bob in the bubbling boiling oil. The cakes are kept bobbing in the hot oil for a few minutes till they become golden brown outside. The resulting oyster cake is crisp outside and full of layers of savoury sweetness in the tender and juicy ball of pork, oyster, spring onion and grated cabbage inside.

Another stall in Kinmen island at the doorstep of Xiamen city in Fujian serves a slightly different version of Fuzhou oyster cake (known as 蚵嗲 in Taiwan). Kinmen oysters are smaller but is known for its more intense briny sweet flavours and springy texture, so it is highly sought after. For the vegetables, they use grated cabbage, leek, chive, bean sprout, cilantro, grated carrot – it’s almost a salad in a fried cake. This oyster cake has only oysters, no pork. The oyster cakes here are deep fried twice – first at lower heat to seal in the flavours, and then transfer to another wok of oil with higher heat to brown and crisp the shell.

A variation of Fuzhou oyster cake in this restaurant in Tainan (across the straits in Taiwan) uses a batter of wheat flour and soy bean flour. The batter is slathered on a shallow ladle and topped with oysters, grated fresh cabbage, chives and pickled cabbage. The mound is covered with more batter and lowered into boiling oil to fry.

Inside the crispy cake are several succulent oysters and moist vegetable but there is no ground pork in this Tainan version. There is a salty subtle sourish taste from the pickled cabbage (which Taiwanese palates appreciate). They also have a version filled with oyster, squid, pork and prawns. Another popular oyster cake shop in Tainan (Taiwan). The version here is the same as the stall above (so we can say this is the Tainan style of oyster cake) – wheat and soy bean batter, grated cabbage, chives and pickled vegetable, only oysters, no pork. Locals love its savoury briny sweet subtly tangy taste.

A version in Yunlin county, Taiwan uses milled rice and soy bean for batter (like their Fujian sibling). For the vegetables, they have spring onion and basil leaf. They use only oysters, lots of it and no pork in their oyster cake. (They do have a version using only chopped pork 肉嗲 but that would not be an oyster cake by definition.)

In Singapore, there are a handful of hawker stalls selling Fuzhou oyster cakes. It is doubtful if these stalls will continue once the current hawkers already in their 60s retire. One of them, Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake is founded in 1962 by Mdm Pang. Her daughter Ms Voon still runs the stall with her husband at Singapore’s Maxwell Food Centre (see the video below and note that as of 2024, this stall has also been recently included in the Michelin Guide Singapore and has mercifully been passed on to the next generation!).

Cooking Fuzhou Oyster Cake in Maxwell Hawker Centre. Singapore Street Food

The batter is made of rice flour and another unknown flour. It is topped with minced pork, small shrimp, small oysters, cilantro then capped with more batter. A couple of toasted peanuts are dropped on top of the batter and it is then deep fried in a trough of hot oil till it is golden brown outside. The golden brown crust is thin with a slight crisp outside. The minced pork filling is tender and moist. It tastes savoury sweet with layers of savoury sweetness from the shrimp and small oysters. The chopped cilantro gives the oyster cake a slight green taste and aroma. The peanut adds crunch to the mostly tender texture plus a bit of nutty taste.

Another stall in Singapore, Fu Zhou Poh Hwa Oyster Cake at Berseh Food Centre was founded in the 1950s. It uses three types of flour for its batter – rice flour, soy bean and a third unknown flour. This costs a little more than the one at Maxwell Food Centre but the ingredients are closer to those in Fuzhou and Taiwan – minced pork, prawn, succulent oyster and chopped cilantro (though much less vegetables than its Fujian and Taiwan siblings). Besides the roasted peanuts, at Poh Hwa they garnished the oyster cake with dried whitebait which added more crunchy and chewy texture plus sharper savouriness. 

There are only six stalls left in Singapore still specializing in Fuzhou oyster cakes, and only one or two have confirmed succession for after the owners in their last few years of work retire. To ensure this recipe is preserved, I – the Hetman of History and the Affirmed Archivist of culinary excellence! – will now share my extensively researched recipe so that you too can sample these disappearing delights, as elevated by My sublime ability to improve any recipe with the merest thought! These are both authentic and easily the finest version of the recipe on the Internet!

To properly make Fuzhou Oyster cakes, you need a Chinese-style ladle, ideally one made specfically for this recipe – this fits the bill nicely!

One innovation is in the Fuzhou oyster cakes batter – I have (in a truly genius fashion, I might add!) chosen to replace part of the water in the batter with oil for a better texture as well as with the actual oyster liquor itself to add even more savor and flavor to the crust! A combination of A/P, self-raising and rice flour (my preferred brands are linked) is ruthlessly authentic and also includes a secret Hawker ingredient for added savor – chicken powder, and yes, it includes MSG – it’s a needed ingredient for the authentic flavor, DON’T skip it! You can buy it from here or just substitute a grated chicken bouillon cube.

In place of regular salt, I have chosen to substitute My go-to salt substitute, which is Knorr Aromat – loaded with umami and close in flavor profile to chicken powder but without the chicken, it adds even more savory richness – you can easily buy it from here. You will also need some Maggi seasoning (only use the European version, which is this one!) as well as some Kadoya sesame oil, and a wildly-unique ingredient I have chosen to add, both for some heat and sea flavor – it’s wasabi-flavored dried seaweed, which is absolutely NOT authentic and ABSOLUTELY works – buy it here.

Traditionally, the top of Fuzhou oyster cakes are covered in peanuts and tiny dried whole fish – I have it under great authority that most Americans would gag seeing dried small fish on these, so I am making the executive decision to substitute instead VERY VERY THINLY-SLIVERED biltong (dried South African beef that is preserved with vinegar) or use top-quality jerky if you have to. My favorite biltong is easily purchased from here. For a very luxe upgrade, I like to use truffled peanuts, which you can buy from here – or just use regular ones, but you’re missing out!

Citizens, give this amazing street food recipe for Fuzhou oyster cake a try and know that by inculcating a taste for it in your friends and family alike – you keep the flame burning for a street food on the verge of flickering out in Singapore! Be sure and follow the directions about pre-heating the ladle in the hot oil for at LEAST a minute or the oyster cakes are guaranteed to stick to the ladle – you’ll get the hang of it and any mistakes are the sole dining privilege of the hungry Chef!

Battle on – the Generalissimo

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