油爆虾 Shrimp Stir Fried in Soy Sauce

Pinyin: Yóu Bào Xiā

Shrimp is becoming my new favorite food. As it turns out they are reasonably cheap here in Shanghai and the cooks (calling them chefs is an injustice to chefs everywhere) can do amazing things with them.

These shrimp are simple enough, lots of oil, bit of ginger, and some soy sauce. Stir fry them together and vuala you end up with this dish. It's all shrimp and it's pretty tasty.

Unfortunately those lazy cooks, they didn't bother to remove the heads, shells or tails! Well it's unfortunate right, but not a show stopper. The real show stopper is that in China you aren't supposed to use your hands to touch your food. That means using only your chopsticks and your mouth you need to successfully de-head, de-tail, and de-shell these shrimp. Needless to say most locals are ruthless about it and if you aren't equally skilled you'll walk away hungry.