Adventures with Kake

I've mentioned 蝦 (xiā) in several posts already, so I thought it was time I gave it a character post of its own. 蝦 on its own means "prawn" or "shrimp" — though don't ask me what the difference between a prawn and a shrimp is, since it seems to vary by country.

You may also see 大蝦 (dà xiā), or "big prawns", i.e. king prawns. However, a lack of 大 in the name of a dish doesn't necessarily mean that the prawns are small ones. In addition, 球 (qiú), which means "ball", is sometimes used as a reference to the way prawns tend to curl up into balls: 蝦球 (xiā qiú). 蝦仁 (xiā rén) are peeled prawns; 仁 means "kernel" or "core".

Other prawn-related words include 蝦醬 (xiā jiàng), which is shrimp paste (belachan), and 蝦米 (xiā mǐ), literally "prawn grains", which are dried prawns. Note that another name for dried prawns is 海米/hǎi mǐ, literally "ocean grains".

Finally, although it's not a prawn, the word for lobster also includes 蝦; it's 龍蝦 (lóng xiā), literally "dragon prawn".

Below are some dishes with 蝦 in the name. (I decided to try out a new style for this "table of dishes" — what do you think? See last week's character post for a comparison.)

漢字	pinyin	English
蝦餃	xiā jiǎo	har gao
	As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, "har gao" is simply the Cantonese pronunciation of 蝦餃, adopted into English as the name for these translucent-skinned prawn dumplings.
紙包蝦	zhǐ bāo xiā	paper-wrapped prawns
	紙 (zhǐ) is paper, and 包 (bāo) means "package" or "to wrap". These are deep-fried prawns wrapped in rice paper skins.
鮮蝦腸粉	xiān xiā cháng fěn	prawn cheung fun
	I discussed cheung fun during last year's dim sum month. 鮮 (xiān) means "fresh", and is used here to make the dish sound more appealing.
芝麻蝦多士	zhī má xiā duō shì	sesame prawn toast
	芝麻 (zhī má) is sesame and 多士 (duō shì) is toast; the latter of these is another of those words which originated as a Cantonese transliteration ("do si") of the English word ("toast"). Note that despite its reputation as an Anglicised Chinese dish, sung assures me that 芝麻蝦多士 is a bona fide Cantonese dish, usually served as a starter or snack.
宮保蝦球	gōng bǎo xiā qiú	kung po prawns
	Note the use of 球 (qiú) as described above.
姜蔥龍蝦	jiāng cōng lóng xiā	lobster with ginger and spring onion
	You might also see this with the alternative word for ginger, 薑 (also pinyinised as jiāng).