[Rachel]

I really need some help. I made a Thai coconut and pumpkin soup the other day. Now the first time that I made it it was fantastic, but I didn't use the tablespoon of shrimp paste that the recipe called for. Wishing to follow the recipe I then went out and duly bought shrimp paste (ingredients; shrimps and salt: smell; dog's doodoo). I then made the soup with this shrimp paste and the taste was well, lets just say if I had a dog, he wouldn't have been happy! I rememer someone giving me shrimp paste in Spain (although it wasn't Spanish, I don't know where they got it from). It wa dark red, very oily - i.e was oil based, and strangly enough smelled of shrimps! The paste that I bought last week (since hastily discarded to the bin) I bought at the Chinese supermarket that all the Chinese in Glasgow go to and was made in Thailand (the paste, not the supermarket). Can anyone make me any suggestions about what kind of shrimp paste I should buy and what kind of ingredients it should contain - or at least tell me what went wrong??!!!
Your hopefully
Rachel
P.S. My food doesn't normally taste that bad, it was quite a humiliating experience!!

[Suzanne]

What a shame it your soup didn't work out. You probably used the right kind -- that's what we've used in restaurants where I've worked. Maybe there was a typo in the recipe, though, because wow, that sounds like a lot of shrimp paste. We always used just a little bit. Only a teaspoon or so when making a couple of quarts of Panang Curry Paste. (One jar is a lifetime supply as far as I've seen!)

[Rachel]

Thanks Suzanne,
I'll go and get some more and try another recipe (I've gone off the soup for a bit!) with only a teaspoon full!!

[Chef David Simpson]

You know, the next time you make it, use dried shrimp instead. Much more flavor. The paste is way to powerful to use in a soup in the first place. Put the shrimp in some cheese cloth and just discard when finished.

[Rachel]

Thank you David,
I think that's what I'll do