Xuyi Shisanxiang Longxia (Jiangsu Crayfish Cooked with Thirteen-Spice Powder)
Xuyi Shisanxiang Longxia (Jiangsu Crayfish Cooked with Thirteen-Spice Powder) is a traditional Chinese recipe, for a dish of crayfish finished in a spicy beer sauce that's a speciality of Jingsu province and a precursor of China's street food crayfish dish. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Chinese version of: Jiangsu Crayfish Cooked with Thirteen-Spice Powder (Xuyi Shisanxiang Longxia).
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Despite crayfish being very popular in China (they’re known as known as xiaolongxia (小龙虾), little dragon shrimp) and are counted amongst China’s national dishes they only really entered Chinese cuisine in the 1990s.
Indeed, it wasn’t until the 1930s, Louisiana red swamp crayfish was brought to Jiangsu province by the Japanese. While first the creatures were seen as exotic, they were not welcomed by the local people as they caused crop damage and brought no direct benefits to people of the community. However, the crayfish adapted to the local environment and populations began to flourish in the coastal environment.
Eventually, the crayfish were made and popularized into a dish called xuyi shisanxiang longxia (– 十三香小龙虾), or ‘Xuyi Thirteen Fragrance Little Lobster’, that brought major business to cities in the 1990s. The flavour was influenced by neighboring provinces like Anhui and Zhejiang which contributed to the spicy oil mixture the crayfish are cooked in. Now, crayfish are considered a local food as they are farmed in coastal areas.
The recipe presented here is the original native Chinese crayfish dish that evolved and became adapted into street food Spicy Crayfish: Mala Long Xia(麻辣小龙虾)
Ingredients:
1kg crayfish
2 tbsp Chinese thirteen-spice powder
1 tbsp doubanjiang (chilli bean paste)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sweet wheat paste/sweet bean paste made with ground soy beans
250ml mild, lager-style beer
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
8cm piece ginger, peeled and cut into small pieces
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into pieces and seeds removed
1 orange bell pepper, cut into pieces and seeds removed
1/2 onion, peeled and chopped into pieces
1 head garlic, broken into cloves and skins removed
5 spicy dried red chillies (traditionally ‘Facing Heaven’ dried chillies but Arbol-type chillies would also work) broken into pieces
1 1/2 Welsh onion/branching onion stems (white and light green parts only)
Method:
Scrub the crayfish heads and bellies until clean. Cut off the front half of the crayfish heat and use this to pull out the stomach and intestines. Grab the middle tail and pull out the sand vein.
Place a wok over medium heat and when hot add the oil. Use the oil to stir-fry the garlic, ginger and chilli pieces, stir-frying for about 2 minutes, until aromatic.
Now reduce the heat to low and stir in the bean paste (prepare this with soy beans) and the doubanjian, stir-frying the ingredients until the red oil comes out.
Add the onion, Welsh onion stems, frying for about 2 minutes, until fragrant.
Increase the heat to high, add the crayfish and stir-fry until pink. Pour over the beer, stir in the thirteen-spice powder blend and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer over medium heat then add the light and dark soy sauces, vinegar and sugar. Return to a simmer and cook for 8–10 minutes.
At this point stir in the oyster sauce, add the bell pepper pieces and stir well to combine then continue cooking until the stock has thickened to your liking.
Arrange the crayfish neatly in a serving dish, pour over the aromatic stock and serve.
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