History of Fuzhou Oyster Cakes

Fuzhou Oyster Cake in SingaporeAs the name Fuzhou oyster cake suggests, the dish originates in Fuzhou, China and is also found at food stalls in Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. It is eaten at homes around the world wherever Fuzhouness 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. Image credit: WikipediaFuqing 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.

Oyster farm in Kaohsiung, TaiwanThe 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 Fuzhounese cuisine - the first Fuzhounese 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 Fuzhounese migration.

Ladies in Fuzhou in year 1873. Image credit: WikipediaThe earliest migrations of Fuzhounese to Southeast Asia (known as Nanyang) was during the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644) as many Fuzhounese crewed the ships of Admiral Cheng Ho's voyages. Larger waves of migration occured 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. 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 Fuzhounese 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 Fuzhounese brought along their food culture everywhere they went. So, Fuzhou oyster cakes are found wherever you find Fuzhounese, at home, if not at restaurants or food stalls. At this 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. This 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. The 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. They also have a version with oysters and squid plus vegetable filling. This 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. Photo credit: National Archives of SingaporeOne 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. The batter is made of rice flour and other 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. Deep fried in a trough of hot oil till it is golden brown outside.

Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster CakeThe 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).

Fu Zhou Poh Hwa Oyster CakeBesides the roasted peanuts, at Poh Hwa they garnished the oyster cake with dried whitebait which added more crunchy and chewy texture plus sharper savouriness. In Singapore, Poh Hwa's fuller version at Berseh Food Centre is my preferred choice for Fuzhou oyster cake. Further afield, wherever there are Fuzhounese, there will be Fuzhou oyster cakes - here at a Fuzhounese home in Argentina. Far from home, there is so much joy in tasting hometown flavours. (Interestingly, I haven't come across any Fuzhou oyster cakes sold in Malaysia. Where can I get some in Malaysia?) References:

Fuzhou people Date: 9 May 2020