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Chinese Name: 龙井虾仁
English Name: Longjing Prawns; Fired Shelled Shrimps with Dragon Well Tea; Longjing Shrimp
Category: Zhejiang Cuisine浙菜
Main Ingredients: shrimp，Longjing tea
Longjing prawns龙井虾仁 is a famous traditional dish in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. It is a Zhejiang cuisine. On September 10, 2018, Longjing prawns was rated as one of The Top Ten Classic Dishes In Zhejiang Province浙江省十大经典名菜.
Longjing shrimp is named after the selected Longjing new tea and shrimp. Longjing shrimp combines tea with shrimp. The whole dish is fresh, soft and tender. The shrimp is white and fresh, and It has a bright color. There is tea fragrance in shrimp and fresh shrimp in tea. After eating, it will have a lasting aftertaste.
According to legend, when Emperor Qianlong乾隆皇帝 of the Qing Dynasty清朝 went to Jiangnan江南, it happened to be the Qingming Festival清明节. He visited the West Lake西湖, and the tea farmers presented him with Longjing new tea. He brought Longjing tea back to the palace. When the imperial chef fried “jade white shrimp玉白虾仁”, he put in tea and made the famous dish.
Another legend is that inspired by Su Dongpo苏东坡’s poem “looking at the south of the Yangtze River望江南” and “testing new tea with new fire and poetry and wine while taking advantage of the years且将新火试新茶，诗酒趁年华”, Hangzhou chefs cooked Longjing shrimp with green and sweet new Longjing tea and shrimps.
In 1972, when US President Nixon visited China, Premier Zhou Enlai周恩来 hosted a banquet in Hangzhou, with Longjing shrimp on the menu. Later, CNN quoted the origin of Longjing shrimp, and shot the production process of the dish to show the delicacy and characteristics of Hangzhou cuisine and promote Chinese cuisine to the world.
How to make Longjing prawns?
The tea used to make Longjing shrimp is pre-Ming Tea明前茶, which is collected before the Qingming Festival. It is less disturbed by insects, tender buds and leaves, green and fragrant. It is a good product of tea. At the same time, because the temperature before the Qingming Festival is generally low, the germination number of tea trees is limited, the growth speed is slow, and the yield that can meet the picking standard is very few, so there is the saying that “pre-Ming Tea is as precious as gold明前茶贵如金”.
Making Longjing shrimp, the choice of tea is very important. Hangzhou Longjing tea is rich in Longjing Village in the south of the West Lake. At present, there are mainly three varieties of Longjing tea, namely “Shifeng Longjing狮峰龙井”, “Meiwu Longjing梅坞龙井” and “West Lake Longjing西湖龙井”.
Ingredients：
- 1000g fresh river shrimp
- 1.5g Longjing new tea
- 1.5g rice wine made in Shaoxing绍酒
- A egg
- 3g salt
- 2.5g monosodium glutamate味精
- 40g starch
- 1000g cooked lard
Instruction:
- Step 1, Shell the shrimp, squeeze out the shrimps, change the water and then wash. Wash the shrimps repeatedly for three times, wash them snow-white, take them out and drain the water (or absorb water with a clean dry towel).
- Step 2, Put the shrimps into a bowl, add salt, monosodium glutamate and egg white, stir with chopsticks until sticky, and then add dry starch to stir.
- Step 3, Take a tea cup, put tea leaves on it, soak it with 50g boiling water (do not cover it), put it for 1 minute, filter out 40g tea juice, and the remaining tea leaves and juice are ready for use.
- Step 4, Fire and put the frying pan. After using the oil sliced pan, cook the lard until it is 45% hot. Put in the shrimps and quickly scratch them with chopsticks. After about 15 seconds, take out the shrimps with a leaky spoon.
- Step 5, Leave a little oil in the frying pan and put it on the fire. Pour the shrimps into the pan, quickly pour tea and tea juice, add a little wine, salt and monosodium glutamate, stir fry a few times, and then the pan can be put on the plate.
Tips:
- Shrimps need fresh river shrimps.
- Longjing tea needs to be soaked in 80 ℃ water for two minutes. It can’t be soaked in hot water for a long time, otherwise the tea smell is light.
