Are african dried shrimp and chinese dried shrimp equivalent?

Question

My Fuchsia Dunlop book tells me about using dried shrimp in chinese recipes. Close to where I work, the market has some stalls selling african food - including dried shrimp. Is this the same? Or near enough the same to be a good substitute?

Answer 1

Yes, they're the same. In fact it's quite likely that your "African" dried shrimp originate from China or South East Asia, which produce 75% of the world's supply.

The obvious caveat is that there are numerous species of shrimp and various commercial grades according to size, so you'll want to try to match the recipe's specifications, if any. Dried shrimp are quite strong though, so only a handful will give a lot of flavor.