Kaki no karaage sarada / deep-fried oyster salad

Rich and creamy oysters with fresh greens.

<Ingredients>

Handful shelled oysters (6-10 oysters)
7-10 cm daikon radish (for cleaning oysters)
Handful salad greens (mizuna, arugula, kinsai Chinese celery in photo)
1-2 tbsp potato starch (for deep-frying)
1/4-1/2 lime
1 tsp soy sauce + 2 tsp olive oil
Oil (for deep-frying, not in photo)


<Directions>
1.

Clean oysters.
Grate daikon, put oysters, and gently toss until daikon turns gray.

Discard daikon, and rise with water.

2.

Prep-boil oysters.
Bring water to boil, add salt (or sake), boil oysters for 10 seconds, and transfer to ice water to stop further cooking.

Once cool, remove from water.

3.

Cut vegetables into 4-5cm, and place on a plate.
Cut lime into two or four.

4.

Deep-fry oysters.
When fine bubbles come up from the tips of wooden chopsticks, oil is ready. Pat dry oysters, coat with potato starch, shake off extra potato starch, and deep-fry.

When almost ready, slightly raise heat, hold oysters with one end still in oil to draw out excess oil, and remove from oil while lightly shaking; place on paper-towel-lined plate.

5.

Put oysters on vegetables, pour soy sauce + olive oil mixture.

Serve immediately. Squeeze lime just before eating.

<Notes>

• If daikon is not available or it is too much work to grate, potato starch can substitute for cleaning oysters, just as with prawns. Both grated daikon and potato starch gets into nooks and crannies to pick up dirt, and also reduces the smell significantly while improving texture. For oysters, grated daikon is the common choice because the constituent of its spicy taste, isothiocyanate, has a detoxifying effect.
• Prep-boiling prevents shrinkage that occurs during deep-frying.
• Oil is likely to splatter vigorously at first due to the water content in oysters. An oil splatter screen, long chopsticks or long-handled tongs are useful.  
• For salad greens, something with a slightly strong or distinctive taste goes well with oysters.