Pasta with minced meat and dried oysters
15 February 2011 | 47 comments
Posted in Chinese, Featured Articles, Italian, One-dish meal, pasta, pork, vegetable, Western
Posted in Chinese, Featured Articles, Italian, One-dish meal, pasta, pork, vegetable, Western
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RECIPE FOR PASTA WITH MINCED MEAT AND DRIED OYSTERSSource: my own concoction
Serve: 3 persons
Ingredients:
170g minced meat (refer to note 1)
6 large dried oysters (蚝豉) (refer to note 2)
6 pieces of water chestnuts (马蹄) – peeled and chopped coarsely
4 shallots – chopped finely
½ piece pressed tofu/ tau gua (豆干) – about 100g
60g frozen edamame/ salted soy beans (毛豆）(net weight)
180g dried pastaSeasonings (for marinade):
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp corn flour/ corn starchSeasonings:
1½ tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
8-9 tbsp water
Dash of white pepper
2 tsp corn flour/ corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water (for thickening)Methods:
- Blanch frozen edamame (with pods) over boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Drain and discard the pods. Set aside.
- Cut pressed tofu (tau gua) into thin slices and put on the kitchen paper to absorb any excess water. Then cut into small cubes about 1cm each. Heat up wok with oil and pan fry until lightly golden. Set aside.
- Marinate minced meat with light soy sauce and corn flour for at least half an hour.
- Wash and soak dried oysters in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain and chop coarsely.
- Heat up wok/ pan with oil.
- Sauté shallots lightly till soften and fragrant.
- Add in dried oysters and sauté till fragrant.
- Push shallots and dried oysters aside. Add in minced meat. Spread it out evenly. Do not stir fry immediately. Let it cook for a while until it is slightly caramelized. Flip it over and let it cook for a while until caramelized. This will increase the aroma of the minced meat. Reduce the heat to low and start breaking up the meat.
- Add in water chestnuts and stir fry till well combined with the rest of the ingredients.
- Mix oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and water in a small bowl until well combined. Add in the mixture and stir-fry till mix well. Cover with lid and simmer for about 3 minutes (if too dry, add a bit of water).
- Add in white pepper and corn flour/ corn starch solution to thicken.
- Turn off the heat. Add in tau gau (from step 2) and mix well. Dish up and set aside.
- Cook pasta according to the instruction in the packet. (Add water to a large pot. Bring water to boil. Add salt, then follow by pasta. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Cook uncovered until the pasta is al-dente. Blanch with cold water and strain.
- Divide cooked pasta, meat mixture (from step 12) and edamame (from step 1) into 3 equal portions. Toss and serve immediately.
Notes:
- For minced meat, use semi-lean pork for better texture. If not, just add 1-2 tsp cooking oil when marinating.
- I prefer Japanese dried oysters than Korean dried oysters as they are bigger, chunkier and tastier. Japanese dried oysters can be easily found during Chinese New Year.
- Instead of pasta, you can serve it with rice or congee.
- You can substitute edamame with green peas.
Wow I really wasn’t expecting minced meat to look so wonderful! Great presentation and I like the beans for a bit of healthy veggies and fiber, too!
Xiaolu: Thanks!! 😉
oh my, looking at your noodles and looking right now at my beehoon for lunch makes me want to throw the whole pack away and grab yours! looks so delicious!
j3ss kitch3n: Hahaha! You made my day! Thanks for your compliment! 😉
I like this type of pasta or noodle but must minus away the dried oyster, I afraid of the smell and taste 😛
Jess: If you use my mother-in-law’s recipe to braise the dried oysters, the smell and taste of the chopped oysters will be milder (in fact, tastier) as compared to those whole oysters served in CNY dishes. Do give it a try! 😉
Looks really good!I would love to try it with noodles!
The Sudden Cook: Thanks! Noodles is another great choice. Hope you will like it. 🙂
Love this Chines-style pasta dish, looks very yummy!
Noobcook: Thanks! 😉
Welcome home! I’m glad to hear you had such a fun trip!
What a delicious pasta sauce…I bet the oysters give it such a great flavor!
Joanne: Thanks! Yes, oysters are the key ingredients to this pasta dish. 😉
I love this pasta.. looks very appetising!
Lee Mei (MCH): Thanks!! Do give it a try! 😉
I cooked a minced meat dish recently too and have my own take on the “secret” ingredient: not dried oysters though. Totally love the sauce with steamed rice. Am cooking again soon. Maybe next round, I can toss them with pasta.
Tigerfish: Can’t wait to see your “secret” ingredient in your upcoming post. 😉
Yummy! This reminds me the 炸酱面 I recently made, will use pasta the next round 🙂
Anncoo: Thanks!!! Love your creation too!
this is truly awesome, a fusion pasta!
Big Boys Oven: Thanks!! 😉
Looks so yummy! Great food for lunch! *drooling*
Alice: Thanks!! It’s great for dinner too!! 🙂
It is great to see you back and posting delicious recipes. The dried oysters sound and look awesome with this pasta.
Marla: Thanks! Nice to see you dropping by too. 😉
wow! I’m lovin’ the looks of your pasta dish!
Peachkins: Thanks!! 🙂
CNY is a great time to reunion with our family. Welcome back. Thanks for bringing us this intriguing pasta!
Christine: Thanks!! 😉
Looks so delicious! What a treat with dried oyster.
Ching: Thanks!! It’s our all-time favourite too. 😉
LK, what a perfect east meets west dish! Wish I could have a large plate of this right now hehe
Jen: Thanks!! It’s a dish that you can easily whip up. 😉
Yum! It kinda looks like spaghetti bolognese minus the tomatoes and plus some oysters! What a unique recipe! I’ll have to try this.
Kathryn: Hahaha!! That’s right! Hope it suits your palate. 😉
A great looking pasta! Love that you have added dried oysters in it.
Angie: Thanks!! 😉
Happy Chap Goh Mei! this really sounds good, i love the aroma of the dried oysters in cooking, even without the salted soy bean is good enough for me.
Lena: Happy Chap Goh Mei to you too!! Thanks!!! Glad you like it. 😉
This is very creative of you! Who would have thought of pasta with dried oysters. 😉
I’m forwarding 2 awards to you, ‘One Lovely Blog’ and ‘Stylish Blogger Award’. You can read the details on my blog. 🙂
KY: Thanks a lot for these two special awards!!! Really appreciate it. Will check out the details. 😉
Hello LK! I thought I had commented on this but apparently not.. Such a clever way to use dried oyster! I’m pretty sure I have an unused packet lurking about someplace…
Clare: Hahaha! Dig it out now and give this recipe a try. 😉
Hi, Thanks for this recipe I tried it on Saturday night and my partner loved it. I use shanghai noodles instead and it still tasted fabulous.
Kana: Thanks for your wonderful feedback. So glad that it suits your partner’s taste bud. I love Shanghai noodles too and will try to use it when I make this recipe again. 🙂
I think this has to be one of if not the worst recipe I’ve seen. I can’t imagine all those ingredients singularly much less altogether assaulting my pallet with such shiver me timbers shuddering blecch!
Rrichnow: Thanks for dropping by and your sincere comment. I’m sorry that the ingredients sound weird to you, but this recipe was tried and tested (and well accepted too!) by Ms Kana who dropped me her positive feedback on 20 March 2011.
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