Recipe from the Zhejing Cuisine: Longjing Shrimp

Although there are many stories behind the famous Chinese cuisine dish ‘Longjing shrimp’, we’re about to tell you the most widely circulated version. This story tells that this dish is from the time that the well-known Chinese emperor Qianlong ruled the country. An emperor with a rather discerning palate and appetite. One day, he dressed up and went strolling around the beautiful West Lake in Hangzhou, and he ended up in a small restaurant where he ordered a couple of dishes, one of them being plain fried shrimps. The chef who was cooking the dishes got nervous to meet the emperor and made a mistake; he put the Longjing tea into the dish, mistaking it for scallion. Therefore, the dish became “shrimps with tea”. Qianlong was so hungry, that he tried the dish and surprisingly found the taste amazing. Because of this, Long Jing Shrimp became a famous specialty in Hangzhou. Underneath we will explain step for step  how you can prepare it, so you can dine as an emperor!

Serves: 4-6

Preparation: 15min

Cooking time: 5 min

Ingredients

• 1 table spoon of Longjing (Dragon Well) tea leaves
• 500 grams of peeled green prawns
• 1 egg white
• 2 table spoon of corn flour
• ½ table spoon of salt
• 2 table spoons of vegetable oil
• 2 spring onions, cut into strips of 5 cm
• 1 table spoon of Shaoxing wine
• 1 table spoon of rice wine.
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ cup of hot water.
• 2 tea spoons of cooking oil.
• 20 grams of green onion.

*All ingredients are available in our Food Market.

Cooking Instructions

Step 1. Mix the salt, egg white, starch, water and rice wine in a bowl. Put the scrimp in and let it rest for half an hour.

Step 2. Prepare the tea in a small teapot by adding the hot water to the tea leaves. Set aside for 5 minutes and then filter the tea to separate tea leaves from the tea water. The hot water could be right off the boil, but it’s even better if you wait a few minutes for the hot water to cool down and reach a 180 F temperature. This is the best temperature for steeping delicate green leaves.

Step 3. Heat up 1 tea spoon of cooking oil in a wok and toss in the shrimp. Stir the shrimps for about 3 minutes until they are about 50% cooked, then take them out of the wok and set aside. Clean the wok, heat it up again using the remaining tea spoon of cooking oil. Add the shrimps again, together with the tea leaves. Stir-fry over a high heat for 3 minutes.

Step 4. Add 2 tea spoons of the tea water and chopped green onions. Stir-fry until the liquid dries up. Time to serve! Don’t forget to poor yourself a cup of Longjing tea to pair with the dish!