Get Lucky: Making Hoe See Fat Choy (Dried Oysters and Black Moss)

Hoe See Fat Choy

In my last post, I made dried oysters. Let's put them to good use and make us a little luck.  We're going to make Hoe See Fat Choy to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which starts Fri., Jan. 31.

Ingredients for Hoe See Fat Choy:
dried oysters, dried black mushrooms, black moss,
stock, oyster sauce, sugar, sesame oil, cornstarch

Here's what you'll need:
12 dried oysters
8 dried black mushrooms
small handful of black moss (fat choi)
1/2 c. superior (or chicken) stock
2T oyster sauce
1t sugar
1t sesame oil
1t cornstarch mixed in 1T water

While I was shopping for the ingredients, I ran into a bit of a speed bump. The recipe calls for black moss (the "fat choi" of Fat Choy). The problem is that Fat Choy grows naturally in Mongolia, and like so many other ingredients, over harvesting has had some serious environmental impacts. So, the Chinese government has limited its harvesting. I had to order the Fat Choy from my Asian Grocer, who gave me hairy dried seaweed. Not quite the same thing, but I'm going with it.

Step 1

Reconstitute the dried oysters, dried mushrooms and black moss in a small dish of cold water. Let sit for about an hour.

Reconstitute the dried oysters, dried moss and dried mushrooms.

Step 2

Rinse the moss and oysters to remove sand or grit. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid.

Step 3

Briefly stir fry the soaked oysters.  Add the mushrooms, chicken stock, oyster sauce, sugar, mushroom soaking water and black moss. Simmer until the mushrooms are soft. Add in the cornstarch water and sesame oil, stir until slick.

Briefly stirfry all of the ingredients together.

Step 4

Plate the dish making sure each bite includes the black moss, mushrooms and one oyster. I used HEART OYSTER individual spoons from our own Harbor Island Oyster Co.

And the final bite? I gotta be honest. I was surprised. It was really good!

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Good luck getting lucky. And if the Hoe See Fat Choi doesn't work, maybe a fun new oyster present will. Buy any new oyster knife from Harbor Island Oyster Co., and get a super cute oyster pendant for free. Offer good through Valentine's Day (Feb. 14, 2014). One free oyster pendant per customer.