Tempura Oysters with Lime and Wasabi Mayonnaise
Summertime special: tempura oysters with lime and wasabi mayonnaise.
This was the first time I have ever had oysters at home. For some reason I always thought that oysters are more like a restaurant treat – that shucking is a mess and they are too perishable for home delivery. Well… allow me to report: delivery is fast & reliable, the packaging keeps the products chilled – and fresh oysters can actually be stored in the fridge for a few days. Moreover, shucking was not at all as messy as I imagined but actually rather easy: a towel and an oyster knife was all that I needed. I ate half of dozen as I was shucking it, topped with a classic mignonette. But for the other half I wanted to do something special.
My first encounter with a-la-carte tempura was at a Japanese restaurant a few years ago. It was a demo performed by the famous tempura shokunin Shuji Niitome. He invited all the guests in the kitchen, where he cooked and served the tempura on the spot: no fancy plates, no service: just plain, pure pleasure of cooking – and eating.
My tempura oysters recipe is probably far from that Japanese absolute perfection – but as a home cooked version I’ll say it’s pretty good.
Tempura Oysters with Lime and Wasabi Mayonnaise
Ingredients
- 12 Carlingford oysters
- 150 g tempura flour
- 50 g plain flour
- 180 ml sparkling water ice cold
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp mustard
- 100 ml rapeseed oil
- 2 limes
- 10 g wasabi paste
- sunflower oil for frying
- Maldon salt
Instructions
Mayonnaise:
- Prepare the mayonnaise by whisking the egg yolk with the mustard and gradually adding the rapeseed oil.
- Add the wasabi paste and continue whisking.
- Season with salt and lime juice.
Tempura oysters
- Suck the oysters, remove from shell and set aside.
- Clean the domed oyster shells by scraping away the excess oyster from inside the shell and boiling them in water for 5 minutes, then transfer them into cold water.
- Prepare the tempura batter by mixing the tempura flour with plain flour and the ice cold sparkling water.
- Heat the sunflower oil in a pan.
- Dip each oyster into the tempura batter, transfer to the pan and fry for 1-2 minutes.
- Drain on kitchen towel.
To serve
- Spoon some mayonnayse into each shell and add the oysters on top. Serve with freshly squeezed lime juice.
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Asparagus is now in full season and I’ve got a delicious asparagus crostini recipe here – check it out!