Shrimp Paste
Shrimp Paste (bagoong alamang) is preserved shrimp or krill, made by adding salt and then fermented for a few weeks. It is widely used as a condiment in the Philippines (and Southeast Asia, if I am not mistaken). We love eating our green mangoes with it, as the saltiness of the bagoong perfectly blends with the tanginess of the mango.
I know it doesn't appeal too much to people from Western countries because of the smell. I have encountered quite a few who cannot stand it. Haha.
Shrimp Paste in Your Dish
Shrimp Paste is used as a substitute for salt in some Filipino dishes. We use it for pinakbet or stir fried vegetables, there is also bagoong fried rice, which is simply as the name implies - fried rice with bagoong alamang or shrimp paste. We also add it to our meat, mostly in pork, to make what we call "pork binagoongan".
In this video I will share how I prepared Chicken Binagoongan. It is really easy and simple, and of course, delicious. If you could only smell my kitchen that time!
You will need:
- 1 large chicken breast, sliced into strips
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 small onion, julienned
- 2 small tomatoes, diced
- olive oil and butter for sauteeing
- dried rosemary leaves for aromatics
- black pepper
- oyster sauce
- shrimp paste
- 1/2 cup water
Procedure:
- Put olive oil and butter in a heated pan, and sauté the onion, garlic and tomatoes until limp.
- Add the chicken. Put pepper and oyster sauce, then mix together. Add more butter if desired.
- Add water and keep at a low simmer for 10- 15 minutes.
- Put the shrimp paste and mix well.
10/10 Rating 🌟
My eldest son, gave it a 10/10 rating. I know, he is a fan of my cooking. Lol. But in all fairness, it was really delicious. The taste of the butter lingered on the meat. It is best eaten with steamed rice.
Tip!
You can also cook bagoong fried rice on the same pan. That way, you can make use of some of the sauce that will be left on the pan.

Photos and videos taken using Huawei Nova 3
Edited on phone and uploaded to @threespeak using mobile browser. (First upload attempt got frozen at 97% and disappeared at refresh)

▶️ 3Speak
Grabe napalunok ako sa ulam. Ang sarap niyan! Makaluto nga din.
Luto na. Napakain ako ng rice. Haah