Japanese Crustacean Species 2: Large Prawn/”Botan ebi”


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Botanebi/”Botan” Prawn, or “Pandalus nipponesis” for the specialists, is a large prawn found in all seas of Japan at depths varying from 300 to 500 metres. They are caught at 200~300 metres depth in Suruga Bay and along the WEstern coast of Izu Peninsula In Shizuoka Prefecture. Once abundant, they have become scarce and only small specimen are found whereas Hokkaido produces up to 20cm-long prawns.

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They are known under different names: toyamaebi and Kijiebi.
It is not a cheap morsel in Sushi bars. But it is interesting to note they are essentially eaten raw as like “amaebi”, they become very sweet after some time in the refrigerator.

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Now, if you are lucky enough to find them fresh with their eggs, ask your chef to dress them as above, or even better, put the eggs on top of a “gunkan nigiri”!

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And one more thing, if they are fresh again, don’t forget to ask for the heads deep-fried!

Incidentally, botanebi change sex (gender) with age to end up as big juicy females!

7 thoughts on “Japanese Crustacean Species 2: Large Prawn/”Botan ebi””

  1. Bonjour Robert,

    Wow! My 1st time here and what a wonderful blog and lotsa of interesting posts you have here…adding to my fav listing now =) You will be seeing me dropping by more often now.

    Cheers,
    Jade

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  2. Robert, Greetings and A Happy New Year to you! You continue to wow me with your beautiful foods! The Foi gras terrine and all…I remember that once I was involved in a charity dinner for 700 people and I was responsible for cutting the foi gras that night…was a dandy lesson to learn!

    -Chef E

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    1. Dear Liz!
      Greetings and a happy New Year!
      It is easy to impress people when you have everything by your hand!
      Wouls you believe I have at least a dozen articles in waiting! LOL
      Take good care of yourself (ves)!
      Robert-Gilles

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