The market · Seasonings and ferments · Southeast Asia

Shrimp paste

Tiny shrimp, salted, fermented and pressed — pungent raw, deeply savoury once toasted.

funky · fermented · briny · savoury

What to do with it

Classics built on it
JavaneseNasi gorengYesterday's rice fried with shallot, garlic, chilli and shrimp paste, darkened with kecap manis and topped with a fried egg.No one here has made it yetSundaneseNasi timbelRice rolled hot in banana leaf, served with fried chicken, tofu, tempeh, salted fish, raw vegetables and sambal.No one here has made it yetSundaneseKaredokRaw vegetables — long beans, cucumber, sprouts, cabbage, small aubergines and lemon basil — in a peanut sauce sharp with kencur.No one here has made it yetSundaneseLalapan and sambal terasiRaw leaves and vegetables — cucumber, cabbage, lemon basil, long beans, small aubergines — with a sambal of chilli, toasted shrimp paste and tomato.No one here has made it yetBalineseBabi gulingA whole young pig stuffed with base genep and greens, rubbed with turmeric and spit-roasted over wood until the skin shatters.No one here has made it yetBalineseBebek betutuA whole duck or chicken stuffed and smothered with base genep, wrapped and cooked slowly in embers until it falls apart.No one here has made it yetBalineseLawarFinely chopped meat, vegetables and grated coconut, mixed with base genep and lime — made fresh for ceremonies and eaten the same day.No one here has made it yetBalineseSate lilitMinced fish or pork mixed with grated coconut, base genep and lime leaf, pressed around lemongrass or flat bamboo and grilled.No one here has made it yetBalineseBase genepThe complete Balinese spice paste: shallot, garlic, four rhizomes, chilli, candlenut, shrimp paste and warm spices, ground together.No one here has made it yetBalineseSambal matahA raw sambal of sliced shallot, lemongrass, chilli and lime leaf, with toasted shrimp paste and lime, dressed in hot coconut oil.No one here has made it yetThaiKhua klingMinced meat dry-fried in a fierce southern curry paste until every crumb is coated, with shredded lime leaf — no coconut and no sauce.No one here has made it yetVietnameseBún bò HuếThick, round rice noodles in a beef and pork broth sharp with lemongrass, deepened with fermented shrimp paste and reddened with chilli oil.No one here has made it yetMalaysianNasi lemakRice cooked in coconut milk and pandan, with sambal, crisp anchovies, peanuts, cucumber and egg.No one here has made it yetMalaysianCurry laksaNoodles in a rich, spiced coconut curry broth, with tofu puffs, prawns, chicken, bean sprouts and a spoonful of sambal.No one here has made it yetMalaysianAssam laksaThick rice noodles in a sour, spicy broth of flaked mackerel and tamarind, heaped with pineapple, cucumber, onion, mint and torch ginger flower, with sweet prawn paste on top.No one here has made it yetFilipinoKare-kareOxtail and tripe stewed in a thick peanut sauce, coloured with annatto, eaten with sharp shrimp paste.No one here has made it yetFilipinoBicol expressPork simmered in coconut milk with shrimp paste and a great many chillies, until the sauce is thick and oily.No one here has made it yetSri LankanLampraisRice cooked in stock, with a mixed-meat curry, frikkadels, prawn blachan, aubergine pickle and egg, wrapped in banana leaf and baked.No one here has made it yet

Kinds

Belacan / terasi
Firm blocks, Malaysian and Indonesian.
Kapi
Thai: softer, a paste in a tub.

If you can't find it

Southeast Asian grocers, as belacan or terasi blocks, or kapi in jars.

  1. 1Fish sauce
    A teaspoon or two in place of a small block; salt last
    You lose the toasted, deep funk.
  2. 2Dried shrimp
    Pounded fine, a little more than the paste
    You lose the fermented edge.
    Gets some back a splash of fish sauce.

Goes with

chillishallotlimegarlic

Knowing it

Where to buy
Southeast Asian grocers. Keep it double-wrapped.
Worth knowing
Toast in foil in a dry pan, or over a flame, before pounding into sambal. Open a window.

Kitchens that keep it in

ThailandThaiA cooking of balance, tasted and adjusted at every step: sour, sweet, salty and hot in the same mouthful, sharpened with herbs.11 classics

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