Joy's Notes on Exotic Food in Bangkok
I'm not really a squeamish person, and I’m pretty open to eating exotic food or unusual delicacies, (I’ve tasted fried silkworms in India) I thought this would be interesting. Just in case you may also want to try some insect-eating when you walk down the Bangkok streets. They are also believed to be high in protein.
(Anyway, this practice of eating insects as food is called Entomophagy …a little point of interest there …It’s common in some parts of the world like Central and South America, and Asia but taboo in other cultures.)
Unusual Delicacies in Bangkok
It’s not really difficult to find street stalls selling ‘unusual delicacies’ with many legs. They are usually deep fried bugs that have been given a lavish dose of chilli, salt and pepper to mask any possible …original tastes. And because it’s deep fried, well ... it can’t taste all that bad!
Fried Grasshoppers
The most popular is the fried grasshoppers which are friend alive (to maintain freshness) and with their limbs intact. Means, as you eat, you get to first bite into the head, then choose to slowly pull off a crispy wing, then … ok, you get the point. One tip says that you should actually remove the head, legs, wings and insides before you eat it. (But doesn’t that leave little for me?)
Dancing Shrimps
One dish called the ‘goong ten’ or dancing shrimps. Small shrimps are thrown in to a bowl and then doused with yum or spicy salad, made with ground roasted rice, ground chili, fish sauce and a dash of freshly-squeezed lime juice. And obviously by the name of the dish, these shrimps are still hopping and squirming and dancing even in your mouth …hmmm, a personal must-try for me.
Other exotic delicacies:
Water roaches, beetles, bamboo caterpillars, ants and ant eggs, crickets, and even scorpions and little frogs.
Exotic Food Recipes
To top it all, I could not resist adding some ‘Insect Recipes’. So here they are:
Rootworm Beetle Dip
Ingredients:
- 2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
- 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons skim milk
- 1/2 cup reduced calorie mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon onion, chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp. dill weed
- 1 1/2 tsp. Beau Monde
- 1 cup dry-roasted rootworm beetles
Directions:
Blend first 3 ingredients. Add remaining ingredients and chill.
Mealworm Fried Rice
Ingredients:
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tsp. oil
- 3/4 c. water
- 1/4 c. chopped onions
- 4 tsp. soy sauce
- 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 c. minute rice
- 1 c. cooked mealworms
Directions:
- Scramble egg in a saucepan, stirring to break egg into pieces.
- Add water, soy sauce, garlic and onions.
- Bring to a boil.
- Stir in rice.
- Cover; remove from heat and let stand five minutes.
