A long held dictum holds that one should refrain from having seafood in the months that do not carry the alphabet ‘r’ in their names. Hence, many did not consume marine products from May to August. This injunction was mainly because the lack of refrigeration earlier and summer’s warmer waters allowed harmful bacteria and toxins to flourish in seafood, and also because the gap in fishing allowed for some marine animals that bred during this season to repopulate.

But this formula does not apply to dried fish and shrimp that are sun-dried for preservation and are available throughout the year. The practice is quite normal on fishing boats that sail off for longer fishing expeditions, spanning weeks and even months. Since storage of catch becomes an issue for them, they dry it out to save it from rotting. The dried fish and shrimp are also cheaper than fresh varieties of the same. They are also cooked differently and viewed as a delicacy.

Once, it was routine to buy dried fish and shrimp at the fish market at Empress Market in Karachi. Then, the sellers moved to near the Parking Plaza in the area when the fish market was shifted out. Now, while looking for dried shrimp or prawns (sookhay jheengay), one is guided back in the direction of Empress Market. Surprisingly, dried fish and shrimps can be found at household groceries shops selling spices, lentils, rice, vermicelli, noodles, pasta and papadums.

At one such shop, they have two varieties of sookhay jheengay — big and small. The big variety costs Rs2,400 per kilogramme (kg) and the smaller variety, which looks like fried browned onions, costs exactly half of that.

Dried shrimps are Karachi’s year-round, flavour-packed delicacy and they can be cooked in several ways. Here are three of them…

Simple fried dried shrimp

Many people are not even sure how to cook dried and shrivelled up seafood into something decent enough to place on the dining table. But those who know can cook up a delectable storm.

A Karachi-based journalist friend with Kashmiri roots explains how she likes to cook dried shrimp. Leaving them in water to soak overnight brings the shrimps back to almost normal size, which makes them softer and easier to clean (de-vein). The onions are then fried, along with a few peeled and chopped garlic cloves, in very little oil in a wok. Once the onions have a golden hue, pour in the shrimps that were peeled and cleaned after straining out the water they had been soaking in. Toss rapidly before sprinkling salt and chilli flakes to taste before serving with ghee-namak ki roti or parathas.

Rangoon-style dried shrimp chutney

Chef Mehreen Moton has two more recipes to add to that. While hailing from the Memon community, Mehreen is married to a Burmese gentleman and spent a considerable amount of her life in Rangoon (now Yangoon), where fried shrimp is a favourite. “My mother-in-law cooked it all the time,” she tells me, adding that, at first, she could not stand the smell of dried shrimp in the process of preparation, though she is quite used to it by now.

Even after returning to Pakistan, she frequents the Empress Market for dried shrimp and prawn because her children want her to cook for them like their grandmother. “My mother-in-law shared all her recipes with me and taught me well,” she smiles before explaining the process.

The chutney is made in a similar style to the regular mint or coriander chutney but not in a blender, as it might rob the chutney of flavour. It must be made using the traditional method and crushed using a stone mortar and pestle. Take five or six green chilies, some peeled garlic cloves and dried shrimp — soaked in water to allow it to regain its normal size before draining out the water, cleaning and de-veining — and crushing them. When done, add salt according to taste, along with squeezing in some lime juice. You may have this chutney alongside anything, even with daal chawal [lentils and rice]. “But try and make only as much as you can finish in one go,” Mehreen adds.

Dried shrimp and bottle gourd soup

Normally, we make shrimp curry using fresh shrimp but, according to Chef Mehreen, this can be done with dried shrimps too. However, even though the drying may preserve the seafood, it also robs it of some flavour, even though it is more pungent. “Therefore, you must add some vegetables to the dried seafood to give it more taste. My mother-in-law used to prepare a light soup of dried shrimp and bottle gourd soup,” she says before laying out the method.

Boil the bottle gourd (loki) in water. Add some cabbage leaves and salt to taste, a pinch or two of monosodium glutamate and black pepper. The trick is to cook till the bottle gourd pieces are tender but the cabbage leaves remain crisp. Then, add the already soaked and cleaned shrimp. Bring the soup to a boil, once or twice, before taking off the heat and setting aside. Chef Mehreen adds that this soup is enjoyed with boiled white rice in Myanmar (formerly Burma).

The writer is a member of staff. X: @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, EOS, September 14th, 2025