Mantis Shrimp Pancake 虾婆饼

Mantis Shrimp Pancake (虾婆饼) is a Lianyungang (连云港) cake of mantis-shrimp meat and juice cooked with a little batter and egg, a local way of eating the shrimp that people in the city call xiapopo (虾婆婆).

How it is made

The shrimp are washed and their tails removed. A rolling pin is then pressed along each one from the head towards the tail to squeeze out the meat and juice. This is mixed with a small amount of batter and egg and cooked on a griddle into a flat cake. The Lianyungang city government adds that it also has a fresh, savoury taste in stir-fries and soups.

Where it comes from

The mantis shrimp lives along the Lianyungang coast and looks like both a praying mantis and a shrimp. It goes by different names across China, such as pipixia (皮皮虾), fuguixia (富贵虾) and saniaoxia (撒尿虾), while people in Lianyungang call it xiapopo, roughly "shrimp granny". It is large and meaty, and the females are counted the best. Local people tell a female by the white character wang (王), written as if in regular script, under its neck. Boiled in salt water, the shrimp is as well known as salt-boiled shrimp.

Questions before you order

How is the shrimp meat taken out for the pancake?

A rolling pin is pressed along each washed, de-tailed shrimp from head to tail, squeezing out the meat and juice.