The Making of Belacan (Shrimp Paste)

Wednesday, 15 March 2006
I could smell dried shrimps in the air. My neighbours had laid out shrimps to dry in the sun. See the pink stuff around Ubong, a grandmother. She is a Kayan, one of the indigenous people in Sarawak, Malaysia. She is wearing a hat that she made herself also.

I was told that there were plenty of shrimps and people are catching them everyday for the past few days. At the time of their purchase, it cost 10MYR for every 6 kgs.

After washing/cleaning, the shrimps were mixed with salt and then laid out to dry in the sun. It has been shining hot for the past week as well as today, just perfect for the purpose.

Two days ago, I had the opportunity to catch Ubong's daughter-in-law, Purai, pounding previous load of dried shrimps.

Today's dried shrimps were pounded as well. I could hear her and another neighbour pounding.

The pounder are carved from some kind of tree trunk.

Thursday, 16 March 2006

Today saw the drying of pounded shrimps. The rectangular blocks are the finished product, which are also laid out to dry before they are stored. They can keep for more than 1 year without refrigeration and longer if refrigerated.

One block of that finished product would cost at least 15MYR at the market! Some of the townfolks, like my neighbour, Purai, would bring that back to their villages and exchange them for rice.

A very simple, cheap, nutritious and popular dish in Malaysia - Fried Water Convolvulus (Kangkon Tumis Belacan). Just add 1 teaspoon belacan (toasted and pounded) to 400g (14 oz) of water convolvulus (kangkong) that is stir-fried with pounded garlic, sliced chillies, sliced onion, sugar, water and oil, covered and briskly cooked for only 5 minutes!

I wanted to take a picture of people catching shrimps at the sea this afternoon but there was nobody there except for one woman, resting. If only I knew I would be there last Friday afternoon. She said she has never seen such a big crowd before " like ants on the seashore".

What a appropriate time to make belacan? The government schools are having their semester break this week! The children can help to pound the shrimps.


Saturday, 18 March 2006
A good friend of mine found a picture of shrimps (garagau) catching by Encik Nazeri Abghani. I like this picture very much and I hope he doesn't mind me displaying it here. Thank you very much, Mr. Nazeri Abghani, wherever you are, for that lovely picture.