Susan Jung's recipes for mantis shrimp, aka p***ing prawns
The aggressive mantis shrimp is not easy to eat but its sweet meat is reward enough.
Mantis shrimp are fascinating creatures. Known as lai liu ha (p***ing prawns, because of their tendency to squirt water when picked up), they are aggressive, move extremely fast and capture their prey by knocking them out. They hit other creatures with such force that scientists compare their speed with that of a bullet. They're also delicious, with sweet, tender meat that, unfortunately, isn't easy to extract from the shell. At seafood restaurants, the chefs will usually split open the shell along the belly, if serving the mantis shrimp whole, or cut them into pieces, which makes it easier to get the meat out.
Mantis shrimp are sold alive - look for active ones that move around a lot. I read somewhere that freezing crabs briefly puts them in a sleeping state, so their death is less painful. I tried that with mantis shrimp and after only about 15 minutes, they were totally relaxed: the bodies straightened out, instead of being curled.