Taiwanese Oyster Soup with Pickled Mustard Greens and Magao Pepper 馬告酸菜蚵仔湯

Back then I thought that oysters are better purchased fresh and cooked on the same date, but thanks to the continuous improvements of food storage technology, frozen oysters nowadays taste nearly as great as fresh off the boat counterparts.

So instead of rushing to get groceries and prepping to cook right away, now I can just relax, maybe do some seafood shopping online, and just cook them on a later date, whenever I want. 

Taiwanese oyster soup with pickled mustard greens and magao pepper 馬告酸菜蚵仔湯 - 

Ingredients?

• 200 grams oysters
• 1/2 cup threaded pickled mustard greens
• 1/8 cup threaded young ginger
• 1 small stalk scallion
• 1/2 teaspoon magao pepper
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine 米酒
• 6 cups water
• Some salt
• Small pinch white pepper powder

How?

Rinse the oysters, drain, and transfer to a medium sized bowl. Add in about 1 tablespoon of corn starch and gently mix till evenly coating the oysters. This will help holding up the shape of the oysters and prevent them from shrinking too much during the cooking process.

When you buy picked mustard greens, usually you'll get few stems from one pack. However, we only need a small amount here, so what I usually do is that I'll chop the remaining pickled mustard greens and make another stir-fry dish with ground pork. Of course you can wrap the pickled mustard greens nicely and store in the fridge for another time too.

Rinse the pickled mustard greens, which will also wash away some excess salt by doing so. Drain well, squeeze dry, then cut into long strips, about 1.5 inches in length. 

Destem and chop the scallion. Scrape off the ginger skin then cut into long and thin strips, like juliennes. About 2 tablespoons.

Prepare a medium pot and pour in 6 cups of water. Add in pickled mustard greens, ginger, and magao pepper. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to just about bubbling. Cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Add in the oysters and let it cook in simmering heat for about one minute only.

Season the soup with about 1 tablespoon of Chinese rice cooking wine and small pinch of salt. Use less salt first, taste, then readjust. The pickled mustard greens can be quite salty, its saltiness also depends on how long you've washed it, so the safest way is to taste and change the amount of salt used accordingly. I used about 1 teaspoon here. Also sprinkle some white pepper powder, just a slight touch.

Scoop the soup to serving bowls and sprinkle some chopped scallion on top right before serving.

Simply omit the use of magao pepper if you can't find any. It can be hard to source outside of Taiwan since it's more of a common ingredients used by the aboriginal tribes and not as commonly distributed even in general Taiwanese households. 

However, if you can get a hold of magao pepper, its lemony scent can definitely add a few points to the oyster soup. One substitute is sesame oil, a few drops can add a different aroma profile to the soup, but it'll be a bit heavier compared to magao pepper. Not using any of those works fine too, no worries.

Other Asian soup recipes:

• Chinese herbal soup with pork ribs 藥燉豬小排
• Aromatic magao chicken soup prepared with Tatung steam rice cooker