Maixia Wheat Dough Soup 麦虾
Maixia Wheat Dough Soup is featured among the local specialties of Zhejiang.
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Maixia Wheat Dough Soup (麦虾) is a local snack of Linhai (临海) in Taizhou (台州), made by cutting strips of flour batter directly into boiling broth. The Taizhou municipal government’s recipe combines the dough with shredded white radish, braised beef, shiitake mushrooms and yellow rice wine.
How it is made
The batter is mixed in a large bowl from flour, egg, oil, salt and water. In the wok, shredded radish is fried first, followed by beef, mushrooms and wine. Stock is added and brought to a strong boil. A knife drawn along the bowl’s rim cuts the batter into strips that fall into the soup.
Once cooked, the soup is finished with soy sauce, MSG and scallion or garlic leaves. The municipal recipe also lists shrimp, razor clams, clams and fried egg as possible additions.
The shape behind the name
Taizhou’s municipal introduction links the name, literally “wheat shrimp,” to dough pieces shaped like curved prawns. It presents the explanation as a traditional story about inexpensive flour-based food.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.