According to Thai tradition, the origin of kapi (Thai fermented shrimp paste) can be traced to their southern territory. Nevertheless, the origin of shrimp paste seems to point to Maritime Southeast Asia. Fermented fish or seafood is an ancient tradition in Southeast Asia, a similar tradition is demonstrated by Cambodian prahok, which is quite similar to the shrimp paste. Better still, replace the table salt with a teaspoon of MSG and you’ll get even more of an umami hit.The tradition to prepare shrimp, fish or seafood through fermentation is widespread in Southeast Asia it can be found in Maritime Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines) to mainland Southeast Asia (Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), and southern China to a lesser extent. If for dietary reasons you cannot use it in your food or any other seafood products, the best thing I can think of is to try some normal table salt mixed in with Golden mountain seasoning sauce. It’s very difficult to replicate the flavor of shrimp paste because it’s unique. Just make sure to tightly close the jar when you’re not using it and it’s guaranteed to keep its freshness. If you open the jar, it will still last a really long time several months to a year is fine. The nature of how it’s made means that unopened kapi has an extremely long expiration date. Buy this one and you can’t really go wrong. Amazon stocks the brand known as “Kapi Thai”, which is popular in Thailand and tastes great. Conveniently, you can also get it on Amazon. You can easily find real-deal Thai kapi in many Asian grocery stores. The species used to make kapi is either normal shrimp or krill, which is another crustacean in the shrimp family. While the end goal is similar - delivering a whack of umami richness to food - the slight differences in technique are why I only advocate trying to find Thai kapi. They used to lay the paste out the dry in the sun on bamboo mats. It’s thought that the ethnic Mon and Cham people first came up with the method of fermenting shrimp into a paste. It’s likely fermented shrimp products have been produced in Southeast Asia since around the 15th century and probably earlier. Therefore, the end product tends not to be the same. Kapi takes two months, if you are curious. Furthermore, the time taken to ferment differs across nations. Different countries use different amounts of salt (or none at all) in the fermentation process. In fact, an interesting paper on kapi goes into detail about this paste as a source of umami in Southeast Asia. These are all not substitutes for each other. It’s worth noting that several different countries in Southeast Asia all make their own unique versions of it, from Bagoong alamang in Philippines to Belacan in Malaysia. This type of paste has the consistency of peanut butter and is slightly oiler than other types of shrimp paste. Not at all, and it’s really important to remember that if you’re cooking Thai food you must actively seek out kapi, the Thai version of shrimp paste. Furthermore, the overall pungency of shrimp paste tends to mellow when you cook it. Similar to fish sauce, the taste is nowhere near as strong as the smell. Don’t be put off by the smell of shrimp paste.
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