Recently the "New Era, New Shandong Cuisine" 2021 Shandong Cuisine Innovation Competition received its first overseas entry -- "Fresh Orange Cashew Shrimp Balls," which is an innovative dish created and submitted by the Cambridge China Centre.

The dish has attracted wide attention and many votes after being launched, according to the competition organizers.

The innovative dish of "Fresh Orange Cashew Shrimp Balls" is submitted by the Cambridge China Centre. [Photo/China Media Group]

The creation of "Fresh Orange Cashew Shrimp Balls" was inspired by the classic sweet and sour carp and braised prawns in Shandong cuisine, highlighting the "sweet and sour" taste characteristics that British people enjoy.

The dish retains the original flavor of its food ingredients, which is highlighted in Shandong cuisine, and pays attention to the clever collocation of an egg white "coat" when fried.

The sweet and sour flavors of fresh orange, followed by a sprinkle of cashew nuts and black pepper create a solid layer of texture that makes people salivate.

The 2021 Shandong Cuisine Innovation Competition, co-held by the Shandong Provincial Publicity Department, the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Shandong Base Station of China Media Group, as well as the Shandong Tourist Hotels Association, launched on Sept 16. It will last until February 2022.

As of 6:00 pm on Oct 29, 619 dishes had entered the competition. In addition to the 136 districts and counties in 16 cities of Shandong province, the competition has also attracted the attention and participation of gourmets from the United States, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Britain, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Peru, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam and China's Hong Kong. The total number of votes for participating dishes has reached 7.2 million.

The competition is designed to develop new popular dishes, establish new brands, as well as build a new platform for the inheritance and innovative development of Shandong cuisine. Innovative dishes from Shandong and the whole world are welcome. Candidates can present new dishes characterized by innovative concepts or developed on the basis of traditional Shandong cuisine.

As an important component of Chinese culinary arts, Shandong cuisine, which is also known as "Lu Cai" in Chinese, boasts a long history and great influence. It is representative of northern China's cooking and its technique has been widely absorbed in northeast China. It is famous for its variety of ingredients and use of different cooking methods.

The competition includes the four stages of open selection, semi-finals, finals, and promotion. Nominations for the "Top Ten Innovative Dishes in 2021" and "My Favorite New Shandong Dish in 2021" will be determined and announced. Candidates can send videos of the cooking of their innovative dish to sdnews@cri.cn. The duration of each video must not exceed 5 minutes.

CRI contributed to this story.