Shrimp Paste

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By Sri Owen

Published 1993

  • About

The exquisite, delicious, ineffably pungent and salty seasoning for a vast range of savoury dishes in South-East Asia, doing the same job as FISH SAUCE but in a far more concentrated form. It is sold in hard blocks, also labelled terasi, trassie, balachan or blachen, and in little 5-gram/⅙-ounce slices. These slices are ready to use. The block, usually about 225 g/8 oz, needs to be sliced about 5 mm/⅕ inch thick and each slice cut into four squares; these should then be roasted on a sheet of aluminium foil in a moderate oven or in a frying pan on the stove for about 5 minutes. This creates a very strong odour, which you eventually come to love but which is a bit of a shock at first. The roasted pieces should be kept in an airtight jar, ready for use; one piece is enough for the average dish. Shrimp paste is very strong; use sparingly. It keeps indefinitely.