abstract:Shrimp paste or shrimp sauce, is a common ingredient used in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese cuisine. It is known as terasi (also spelled trassi, terasie) in Indonesian, ngapi ( ) in Burmese, kapi (กะปิ) in Thai, Khmer (កាពិ) and Lao language, belacan (also spelled belachan, blachang) in Malay, mắm ruốc, mắm tép and mắm tôm in Vietnamese (the name depends on the shrimp used), bagoong alamang (also known as bagoong aramang) in Filipino, haam ha/ha jeung in Cantonese Chinese and hom ha/hae ko () in Min Nan Chinese.
Lee Kum Sheung of Guangdong Province launched his business in 1888 selling only two products: the mysterious, dark sauce made from oyster juice and a shrimppaste.
Fortunately four to five meals per day of char kwey tiaw (fried noodles in soy sauce with egg and various additions), asam laksa (Penang's famous, indescribably good curry noodle soup), rojak (fruit and veggie salad in a sweet dark shrimppaste) and much, much more, goes down a lot easier than heavier Western foods.