Shrimp paste is one of the typical condiments, bringing an unmistakable richness to the delicacies of Vietnamese cuisine. Many famous dishes will lack true flavor without the presence of shrimp paste. In particular, how to make shrimp paste can be applied at home if you spend a little effort and time.
Shrimp paste is a famous dish originating from the North. One place that owns the most famous brand of shrimp paste is shrimp paste at Hang Be market in Hanoi. Today, other brands of shrimp paste are also much more popular. So what is shrimp paste and is it difficult to make shrimp paste at home? Let’s learn more about this product through the article below.
What is shrimp paste?
Shrimp paste is a type of food that has been fermented by careful processes. The main ingredients of shrimp paste are small shrimps the size of chopsticks. This is an animal that is closely related to the shrimp, but their size is much smaller than that of the shrimp. They live in fresh water, thrive in mossy riverbanks.
The main ingredients to make shrimp paste, besides shrimp, also need more rice and fine salt. These ingredients will combine with each other according to a certain ratio of ingredients and time to be able to create bottles of shrimp paste that are both delicious and rich without being rotten or too salty. The color of a standard bottle of shrimp paste is a beautiful red-brown color.
How to make shrimp paste in the North
Northern shrimp paste is one of the famous brands, so women tend to learn more about this dish. Let’s see if it is difficult to create a bottle of northern shrimp paste through the following instructions on how to make shrimp paste.
Prepare materials
- Fresh shrimp: 1 kg
- Rice: 500gr
- White wine, salt.
- Earthen jars, comparison jars or glass jars: 1 pc.
Steps to make shrimp paste in the North
With the ingredients prepared, take the time to follow the instructions below to obtain quality bottles of shrimp paste.
Step 1: Wash the shrimp
Fresh riu shrimp has a soft, pinkish-pink skin and is quite small in size.
When buying, you need to clean the shrimp by removing all moss, stones and impurities mixed in the purchased shrimp. Then rinse thoroughly with plain water.
Boil a pot of water with a little white wine, use this pot of water to rinse the shrimp again. Then take the shrimp into a clean basket and let the shrimp drain.
Step 2: Crush the cloves
When the shrimp is dry, put a small amount of shrimp in the mortar and pound it with a pestle. Crush all the prepared shrimps into a smooth, pinkish-pink mixture.
Step 3: Roasting
Place a large saucepan on the stove to heat. Roast the purchased rice with low heat until the rice turns golden color and has the aroma of roasted rice.
Pour the rice into the blender and grind it to a fine powder.
Step 4: Prepare to soak fish sauce
- The jars to soak the fish sauce are washed and wiped dry with a cotton towel.
- Put the shrimp, fine salt, and hearing into the jar in the following order: 1 layer + 1 layer of salt + 1 layer of hearing. Keep doing this until you run out of cloves.
- Use a clean, thin cloth to cover the top of the jar. Then cover the jar with the lid. Tie tightly and leave to dry in the sun. In rainy weather, you can bring the jar of shrimp paste you are making to near the fire.
Step 5: Check the finished product
After soaking for two weeks, you can bring the jar of fish sauce out to check how the finished product is done. Before that, it is absolutely not advisable to open the lid of the jar, to avoid bacteria entering and damaging the jar of fish sauce.
Successful shrimp paste must have a red-pink color, with the aroma of typical shrimp paste. If the jar of shrimp paste turns black, has no aroma or has a bad smell, the fish sauce is not thick, it means that your fish sauce jar is broken. You should check the steps in how to make your own shrimp paste to draw experience for the next time.
How to make shrimp paste
The shrimp paste dish that is both easy to make and quick to use will definitely be the dish you want to try right now. Let’s learn the steps to make shrimp paste as follows.
Preparation ingredients
- Fresh shrimp: 500g
- Fish sauce: 250ml
- Galangal: 2 pieces
- Garlic: 5 bulbs
- Fresh chili: 5
- Condiments: Sugar, MSG, white wine
Steps to make shrimp paste
Follow the following steps, you will have delicious and standard shrimp paste bottles.
Step 1: Wash fresh shrimps
Fresh shrimps are washed, removing all stones, impurities and shrimps that are no longer fresh.
Soak with a little white wine for about 15 minutes, then take out the basket, drain. In the time to let the shrimp dry, the alcohol will also evaporate.
Step 2: Prepare other ingredients
The galangal is removed and washed clean. Use a sharp knife to cut galangal into small strands 3 to 5 cm long.
Peel garlic, wash peppers, remove seeds. Then bring the garlic and chili to the mortar and pound.
Step 3: Cook water
Put a pot of water on the stove. Add 250ml of fish sauce and 4 tablespoons of sugar to boil, then let it cool. Add the crushed chili garlic and a little white wine to the pot of fish sauce that has just cooled down.
Step 4: Mix the cloves
Put the shrimp and galangal in a large pot, mix well.
Put the cloves and galangal into the jar. Prepare the fish sauce that has just been prepared and close the lid.
Step 5: Check the finished product
Leave the jar of shrimp paste in a cool, dry place for about 3 days. Then open to check, the jar of shrimp paste at this time will have a slightly sour taste, the shrimp is pink and galangal is yellow, adding a little bright red color of ground chili.
Step 6: Enjoy shrimp paste
Ladle the shrimp into a bowl and eat with hot rice, dipping boiled vegetables, boiled meat. You can add a little more sugar each time you eat if your shrimp paste is a bit salty.
So the way to make shrimp paste according to your method of making shrimp paste is completed. It’s both quick to eat and easy to make, isn’t it?
>> Reference: How to make delicious and simple Hanoi Pho at home
How to make sour shrimp paste
Another simple and quick way to make shrimp paste is sour shrimp paste. Western-style sour shrimp paste is a great combination between the country taste of shrimps and the light taste of fish sauce, the strong taste of garlic and the spicy taste of chili peppers. Anyone who has tasted the sour shrimp paste once will surely find it hard to forget its taste!
Prepare materials
- River shrimp: 700gr
- Garlic: 1 bulb
- Chili: 3
- Fish sauce: 400ml
- White sugar: 300g
- White wine.
Steps to make sour shrimp paste
Let’s start making delicious and unique sour shrimp paste according to the steps below.
Step 1: Prepare the shrimp
When buying shrimp, it needs to be washed. Remove all mud, stones, leaves and moss mixed in the shrimp.
Pour a little white wine into the pot and then soak the shrimp for about 15 to 20 minutes to reduce the characteristic fishy smell of shrimp and fish. Remove the shrimp to a basket, let it drain.
Step 2: Prepare other ingredients
Garlic is peeled, washed and cut into thin slices with a knife.
Wash the chili, remove the seeds. Cut one fruit into circles and slice the other.
Step 3: Make fish sauce soaked in shrimps
Put a medium pot of water on the stove. Add the prepared fish sauce and white sugar and bring to a boil. During the cooking process, you can use chopsticks or a spoon to stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
Put some garlic and sliced chili in the pot. Then turn off the stove, let the fish sauce cool down.
Step 4: Mix the cloves with garlic and chili
Bring the dried shrimps mixed with the remaining chili and garlic. Use chopsticks to stir the ingredients together.
Step 5: Soak shrimp paste
Put the shrimp in a jar that has been washed and dried. Then pour the prepared fish sauce into the shrimp submerged in fish sauce. Close the lid of the jar of sour shrimp paste just made.
Put the jar of sour shrimp paste in a cool place. After 20 days, the sour shrimp paste can be used.
What to eat with sour shrimp paste?
Sour shrimp paste when the finished product has the aromatic taste of river shrimp is a delicious dipping sauce that is hard to resist. With simple steps in how to make shrimp paste, you have a jar of rich sour shrimp paste that is safe for health for the whole family to enjoy delicious dishes every day.
Some daily dishes that will be more attractive when combined with sour shrimp paste are:
- White rice, vermicelli: White rice and vermicelli when eating sour shrimp paste with a plate of raw vegetables or cucumbers is extremely wonderful. Surely, family members will love this popular dish.
- Rice paper rolls: Rice paper rolls eaten with sour shrimp paste will be much more delicious than regular fish sauce. Believe me, this will be a delicious breakfast for family members to combat boredom.
- Boiled meat: The sour shrimp fish sauce that penetrates into each fiber of the meat will bring an irresistible delicious taste for people to enjoy. This is one of the secrets to refreshing the taste of boiled meat.
- Boiled vegetables: Water spinach, vegetables … boiled with sour shrimp sauce will add a lot more flavor.
How to make dried shrimp paste
In addition to the ways to make shrimp paste mentioned above, you can process shrimp into dried shrimp paste. Dried shrimp paste to eat gradually with rice is also great.
Prepare materials
- Fresh shrimp: 1kg
- Lean pork: 500gr
- Green onions, lemongrass
- Shrimp paste: 1 spoon
- Spices: fish sauce, gac oil, cooking oil, seasoning powder.
Steps to make dried shrimp paste
The recipe for making dried shrimp paste is quite simple. Once you have all the ingredients, follow the instructions below:
Step 1: Wash the shrimp
Shrimp bought to pick up dirty garbage, stones and rancid shrimp.
Wash with water a few times to remove dirt and small dirt. If the shrimp has a large size, long antennae, the beard and head can be cut off.
Step 2: Steam the shrimp
Put a pot of water on the stove, drop into the pot 3 crushed lemongrass and use this pot of water to steam the shrimp.
Steam for 20 minutes to cook the shrimp. Then, leave the shrimp out to cool and drain.
Step 3: Crush the cloves
When the shrimp is drained, you put it in the mortar and proceed to pound it.
Step 4: Boil the meat
Lean pork is washed and cut into medium sized pieces. Note the horizontal cut along the grain of the meat with a thickness of about 1cm.
Put the meat in a pot of boiled water along with a few stalks of onions to eliminate odors. Then, take it out to cool and then pound the meat with a mortar until the meat is lean.
Step 5: Processing shrimp paste
Take half a bowl of meat broth and add 1 tablespoon of shrimp paste, mix well. Use a piece of clean cloth to filter the bowl of fish sauce that has just been mixed, taking only the juice to use.
Pour this juice into a large saucepan. Add both shrimp and minced meat and mix well by hand so that the spices in the juice are evenly absorbed into the shrimp and meat.
Step 6: Proceed to make shrimp paste
Put the shrimp and meat pan on the stove over medium-low heat. Continuously use chopsticks to stir until the pork and shrimp are evenly cooked and dry. Thus, the shrimp will have a certain level of cotton without burning.
When the shrimp starts to swell, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of gac oil, fish sauce, seasoning powder, and cooking oil to the pan. Continue to stir and cook for about 1 more minute for the spices to infuse into the meat. Now taste it to see if it’s to your taste. Season more to suit.
Lower the heat further and cook until the strands are dry to your liking, then turn off the heat. Do not cook for too long, avoid the condition that the shrimp are too dry, and the chewy and sweet taste of the meat is no longer available.
The dried shrimp dish, you can let your family eat it with sticky rice in the morning, eat it with white rice or cook shrimp porridge, all very delicious and nutritious.
What is the delicious dish made of shrimp paste?
Usually, shrimp paste will be used by housewives to make shrimp paste with meat. This is probably the most common use of shrimp paste. However, women from all over the world have been flexible and created many delicious dishes from shrimp paste, helping to increase the taste of their family members. So what are the delicious dishes from those shrimp paste?
Boiled meat with shrimp paste: Boiled pork with shrimp paste is a dish that is both simple, quick, nutritious and easy to stimulate everyone’s appetite.
Tofu with shrimp paste: Tofu with shrimp paste is quite familiar and popular with many people. However, the tofu dish with shrimp paste is also an irresistible dish for even the most gourmet.
Boiled vegetables with shrimp paste: Using shrimp paste to make fish sauce for boiled vegetables such as morning glory, spinach and some other common vegetables will contribute to making the vegetable dishes more attractive and cost-effective.
Rice paper rolls with shrimp paste: A plate of soft rice paper, plus a bit of frugal herbs when dipped with a cup of standard shrimp fish sauce will be a great choice for the family’s weekend morning.
>> Learn more: Roasted pork belly with shrimp paste is delicious and delicious at home
Epilogue
Shrimp paste is one of the cooking ingredients of many families because of its diversity in usage. In addition to buying the bottles of shrimp paste with all the famous brands across the three regions, you can also make your own shrimp paste to use with simple and easy ways to make shrimp paste. Hope the article will be useful for your kitchen knowledge store!
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