Fermented shrimp paste is made from tiny shrimp (usually Acetes) mixed with salt, dried and left to ferment until they break down into a pungent, intensely savory paste or block. It’s used in small amounts – toasted, pounded into chili pastes or fried with aromatics – across Southeast Asia, and in Korea as whole salted shrimp (saeujeot). Cooked into a dish, its fishy smell turns into deep, rounded savoriness.
Saeujeot Substitute (Salted Shrimp for Kimchi)
If a kimchi recipe calls for saeujeot and you can’t find it, use fish sauce – Korean anchovy sauce (myeolchi aekjeot) or Thai/Vietnamese fish sauce – starting with about the same amount and adjusting the salt. For a shellfish-free or vegan kimchi, use a little soy sauce or salt plus kelp stock. Korean research shows that salted seafood (jeotgal) changes kimchi’s microbes and flavor compounds (Jung et al., 2018), so expect a slightly different – but still good – kimchi. See our kimchi recipe.
How Shrimp Paste Is Made
Thai kapi, for example, is made by salting Acetes shrimp, drying them, and fermenting the mixture for weeks, with grinding along the way. During production the shrimp’s own enzymes and salt-tolerant bacteria break down protein and fat; the finished paste is dry (water activity about 0.69), and its pH first falls, then rises as fermentation goes on (Pongsetkul et al., 2017). The aroma comes from sulfur compounds, short-chain fatty acids and trimethylamine (Surya et al., 2026).
The Main Types
- Belacan (Malaysia) and terasi (Indonesia): firm, dry blocks, toasted before use – the base of sambal belacan and many curry pastes.
- Kapi (Thailand): a softer paste used in curry pastes and nam prik chili dips.
- Mắm tôm and mắm ruốc (Vietnam): wetter, purple-gray pastes; mắm ruốc seasons bún bò Huế, and mắm tôm is a dip.
- Bagoong alamang (Philippines): chunky, often sautéed with garlic and pork; served with kare-kare and green mango.
- Saeujeot (Korea): whole tiny shrimp in brine rather than a paste; used in kimchi, stews and as a dip for pork.
Microbes and Live Cultures
Traditional pastes are fermented by salt-loving bacteria. In ten commercial Indonesian terasi, traditional products were dominated by Tetragenococcus, Bacillus, Weissella and Halanaerobium, while industrial ones contained no detectable microbes, probably because they’re sterilized (Surya et al., 2026). Either way, shrimp paste is cooked and used by the gram, so it’s a seasoning, not a probiotic food.
Safety and Storage
- Quality varies. In a Thai study of seven kapi products, a certified export paste had no detectable pathogens, while some wet-market and community products carried Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens, and histamine levels differed with hygiene and salt (Mahidsanan et al., 2026). A Korean survey of saeujeot also called for standardized production (Lee et al., 2024). Buy sealed products from reputable brands, and cook shrimp paste before eating.
- Allergy: it’s shellfish – avoid it with a shellfish allergy, and check curry pastes and sauces for it.
- Salt and histamine: it’s very salty and can contain histamine; use small amounts.
- Storage: keep it tightly sealed – double-wrapped or in a jar – to contain the smell. Keep soft pastes and saeujeot in the fridge; follow the label for dry blocks. Discard it if it grows mold or smells rancid or putrid rather than pungent.
How to Cook With It
- Toast dry blocks (belacan, terasi) in foil in a dry pan or over a flame until fragrant and crumbly – with the fan on.
- Pound it into pastes with chili, shallot and garlic, or fry it with the aromatics at the start of cooking.
- Balance it with lime, tamarind or sugar.
- Other substitutes: for Southeast Asian pastes, a little fish sauce or anchovy paste gives savoriness but less depth; one type of shrimp paste can usually replace another, adjusting the amount.
Related: fermented fish sauce, Cambodian prahok and Italian colatura di alici. In Malaysia, fermented durian, tempoyak, is another pungent condiment, cooked into fish curries.
