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Fish and seafood from Myanmar

Ngapi gaung (whole-fish ngapi)ငါးပိကောင်

Ngapi gaung is Myanmar's whole-fish ngapi. Freshwater catfish-like fish are cleaned, salted, drained, salted again and packed tight in boxes or jars, where they ferment whole for a month or more. The liquid that drips off becomes ngan-pya-ye, the old fish sauce.

Fully documentedFish and seafood13 months

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne Rangoon dealer's practice, recorded in the 1982–85 field survey; no fixed batch size.
Freshwater fishBarbelled catfish-like fish are preferred; scales, head and guts removed (nga-khu keeps its head)[ir1987]
Salt30 % of the fish weightOne Rangoon dealer's rate; Khin (1948) gives 30–40 %[ir1987]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 months

Start
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What changes: The fish are scaled, gutted and usually headed, but kept whole

Step 1 of 4
Clean the fish
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Bacillus
Pediococcus
Bacillus sp.

Output: fish with scales, heads and guts removed; nga-khu keeps its head.

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

Ngapi gaung is Myanmar's whole-fish ngapi. Freshwater catfish-like fish are cleaned, salted, drained, salted again and packed tight in boxes or jars, where they ferment whole for a month or more. The liquid that drips off becomes ngan-pya-ye, the old fish sauce. Made in 4 steps over 13 months. The longest step, age the drip liquor, takes 12 months (Ishige N 1987). Salt is 30–40 % (Ishige N 1987). Pediococcus and Bacillus sp., 8.3×10^3 and 3.4×10^5 per g in the same samples do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 monthsReported[ir1987]Age the drip liquor
Salt30–40 %Reported[ir1987]Salt again and pack down hard
AciditypH 6.6–6.8Measured[miz-bnme]Salt again and pack down hard

What makes this one different

Ngapi gaung keeps the fish whole instead of pounding it to a paste. It is the source of the traditional fish sauce, ngan-pya-ye, which drips from the packed boxes.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Weighted ngapi gaungPressed under stones instead of poles or feet.

Safety

Heavy salting preserves it; two Burmese salted fish samples held 27.3–29.7 % salt. It is grilled, boiled or fried before eating.

History and sources

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

Burmese sort ngapi into whole fish, pastes and liquid, and do not separate fish from shrimp products.

  1. [ir1987] Ishige N., Ruddle K. 1987, Gyoshō in Southeast Asia, a study of fermented aquatic products (5), Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology 12(2), pp. 275–277 (Burma), citing Khin 1948paper
  2. [miz-bnme] Mizutani T., Kimizuka A., Ruddle K., Ishige N., A chemical analysis of fermented fish products and discussion of fermented flavors in Asian cuisines (study of fermented fish products 6), Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology 12(3), tables 9 and 24, samples B/FF/1 and B/FF/4paper
  3. [wiki-ngapi] Wikipedia, Ngapi (accessed 2026-10-31; describes ngapi gaung as whole ngapi fish and names ngapi kaung among the types made from whole fish)wiki