When I was young my step-mother, who was Filipino, did most of the cooking. She often served plain white rice with this Shrimp/Fish paste on the side instead of soy sauce.
I'm trying to find the paste.
(it wasn't a paste-paste or dry)
I have no idea what it was called. It was bought in an Asian market. Came in a tiny glass bottle. Was a redish/brown colour. It had a little liquid in it, and was crunchy if you accidentally ate too much. Something you didn't want to do since it was so salty 1/2 a dime size amount was more than enough for a full bowl of rice.
Everything I've found on-line says it must be cooked in. It was never cooked in.
Best Answer
What you are describing sounds a lot like Belacan which is a very strong, very salty shrimp paste, that can be crunchy, as you describe, if you were to eat it by the spoonful.
Around where I am (Northern Virginia) you would find ingredients like this in one of the Korean groceries, like H-Mart or Lotte.
I snooped online looking for your small glass jars. I was able to find some that looked about right on Amazon. Only you can tell what brand your step-mother used to get (if it even exists any more), but it should be very similar to the block form that I am used to.