Dried shrimp is a very common ingredient in Asian cuisine. In Chinese, it’s called 蝦米/虾米 (traditional vs. simplified characters) and is pronounced xia mi in Mandarin or Ha May in Cantonese. Another common “海米” (hey me).
Mama Lin keeps bags of these in her fridge and adds them to almost everything she cooks, from dumplings to vegetables to soups. She keeps so many of these that I usually take small bags home with me. Don’t let their size fool you. Although small, dried shrimp add a lot of umami flavor to any dish. (Side note: in Chinese we refer to umami flavor as “甜” (tian), which also happens to be the word used to describe “cute”. Imagine my confusion learning these Chinese words as a kid.)
To dry the shrimp, the shrimp are first soaked in brine, which acts as a natural preservative, before being dried in the sun. Larger ones tend to be more expensive than the tiny shrimp. Certain sizes of dried shrimp work better in different recipes. For example, the larger shrimp are great for flavoring soups, while the tiny ones are great for dumpling fillings. In general, I like to store medium-sized dried shrimp in my fridge.
HOW TO CHOOSE DRIED SHRIMP
They are often sold in packets in Asian supermarkets. You may also find them sold in bulk in Chinatown or other major Asian markets. Regardless of the size, you want to pick the pack of shrimp that are a rich orange color. You want ones that look like the picture above on the left, not like the shrimp on the right. You don’t want shrimp that are a faded orange color with tiny white spots all over them. This is an indication that the shrimp have been stored too long or that the shrimp were not properly dried during storage.
STORAGE
Store dried shrimp in the refrigerator or freezer. They can be kept for a very long time. You can keep them in a glass jar in the fridge for 3 to 4 months without the color fading. I also like to freeze them in a Ziploc bag to keep for up to a year.
If you buy them in a pack, cut open the pack and store in a jar. I once left an unopened bag of dried shrimp in my fridge for months only to find mold by the time I was ready to use it. Had I opened the packet sooner, I would have noticed the discolored shrimp and would have thrown them away.
USES
You can use dried shrimp to flavor stir-fries, broths, and even dumplings. I like to use it in fried rice, jook (porridge) or sticky rice. Mama Lin usually soaks the shrimp in water for 20 to 30 minutes before using them in stir-fries. This will help soften the shrimp. I’ve fried medium and tiny dried shrimp without soaking them first and I really like the hard, chewy texture of the shrimp. However, it’s not for everyone.
If you plan on making soup or congee, you don’t need to soak the shrimp first as they will simmer for quite a while. Simply rinse the shrimp and add them to the pot.
In Burmese cuisine, it is common to soak lots of dried shrimp, drain them and shred the shrimp into very small pieces. You can do this in a food processor. This shrimp “pulp” is very convenient for cooking, but should be used within a few weeks.
