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Fish and seafood from Myanmar

Pazun chin (sour shrimp with rice)

Pazun chin is the prawn member of Myanmar's sour "chin" ferments, in which salted fish or shrimp are fermented with boiled rice. A Yangon market product was made from speckled prawn. It is eaten fried with seasonings or mixed with oil and seasonings.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Pazun chin itself.

Short entryFish and seafood

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo recipe with amounts was found for the prawn product. The WorldFish market samples sold under the name "Nga Chin / Pazun Chin" in 2023 were all made with fish.
Speckled prawn (Metapenaeus monoceros)[moe2015]
Salt[moe2015]
Boiled rice[moe2015]
Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a fish

What changes: The prawns are salted

Step 1 of 3
Salt the prawns
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Myanmar fish and shrimp ferments with rice are made in two steps, salting first, then fermenting with the carbohydrate.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Pazun chin is the prawn member of Myanmar's sour "chin" ferments, in which salted fish or shrimp are fermented with boiled rice. A Yangon market product was made from speckled prawn. It is eaten fried with seasonings or mixed with oil and seasonings.

What makes this one different

Pazun chin is made with prawns where ngachin uses freshwater fish; both are salted first and fermented with boiled rice.

Related ferments

Safety

FDA says the spores of Clostridium botulinum are very common and have been found in the gills and viscera of finfish, crabs and shellfish, and that raw fishery products should be assumed to carry them. It says any product preserved by salting, drying, pickling or fermentation should be eviscerated first, because without that step toxin can form even with strict temperature control. Its definition of evisceration is written for fish, and the sources for pazun chin do not say whether the prawns are gutted. FDA says a few micrograms of the toxin can cause illness in a healthy adult, and that without antitoxin and respiratory support death is likely.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [moe2015] Nant Kay Thwe Moe 2015, Study of beneficial microorganisms in Myanmar's fermented fishery products, PhD thesis, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technologypaper
  2. [worldfish2024] Rizaldo Q.V., Aung H.M., Akester M. 2024, Quality of fermented fish in Myanmar, WorldFish, Bayan Lepas, Malaysiaother
  3. [fda-ch13] US FDA, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, Chapter 13, Clostridium botulinum toxin formationgov