I fell in love with this dish a few weeks ago and I've been pestering my Thai relatives and colleagues to show me how it's made ever since.
I admit there's something disconcerting about shoving a creature that looks like a giant cockroach into your mouth.
You wouldn't imagine it from my writing, but I used to feel exactly the same way.
Ten years ago if someone suggested that I'd hand over 10 baht to a street vendor to eat the insides of a massive beetle I'd have laughed at you.
Expletives would have flown from my lips like a plague of (un-fried) locusts swarming across Egypt.
Expletives would have flown from my lips like a plague of (un-fried) locusts swarming across Egypt.
I didn't start off eating water beetle – they look far too scary.
I began with fried grasshoppers
I began with fried grasshoppers
It was a very late night on my fourth trip to Thailand when I was persuaded to have a crack at the grasshoppers.
I persuaded myself, no cattle prod needed. The smell, the look, the environment – curiosity and hunger got the better of me.
Surprisingly, I found them a little like crisps. Flavoursome, crunchy and great with a beer.
Getting my head around putting an insect in my mouth was the hardest part.
I'd broken some sort of mental barrier, and far from being proud or boastful I found myself quite introspective, looking into the reasons for my terror of trying these things previously.
I'm not as weird as you may think.
A friend asked today if I was a bit freaked out by weird food.
My response was that yes, I was. Things like Twinkies, steak and kidney pies, French style crumbed lambs brains and Kazakh attempts at Pizza freak the hell out of me. Natto too, which is a sticky, slimy, gooey stinking Japanese fermented rice thing which I once had the displeasure of putting in my mouth in Dubai.
I'd dare anyone to look closely into what goes into a chicken McNugget too, and then eat one – ever again. <shudder>.
Like anything, it is a little about getting outside of the comfort zone and exploring our rationale for doing what we do, eating what we eat, and retaining or questioning the opinions and attitudes we grew up with.
Some of us do, some of us don't.
I truly believe that travel does force us to re-explore our convictions and raison d'etre – even if some of those discoveries are things we would rather have left more comfortably in the closet.
But back to the Maeng Da – I was sitting in a bar in Bangkok on holiday many moons ago, tucking into fried grasshoppers and teasing a clothing vendor who was eating Maeng da – these big water beetles.
She was a great sport – but she turned it back onto me and offered me one.
I screwed up my nose in disgust and she gestured "No" "Not eat like that" – then she showed me – opening the carapace and revealing the interior which looked like caviar. She offered it to me, and then tried some, showing me it was OK.
THIS was what we ate – not the whole water beetle.
I scraped it off and tried it – the flavour was very intense but strangely pleasant. Not bug-like at all.
It seemed to be a familiar flavour – but at the same time so very foreign. Hard to pinpoint what it actually resembles.
It had the pungency of a perfume or detergent – words can barely explain – but the freshness of lime or citrus with an indescribable top note.
Fast forward 8 years, and I'm trying it again – not fresh off the cart but served as an innocuous looking dip.
I was being watched by 5 sets of Thai eyes as I dipped the ball of sticky rice into the greyish matter.
It looked like babaganoush – roasted eggplant dip, but I knew it wasn't.
I thought it was a fish 'nam prik' and I wasn't far off.
It had "Maeng Da" inside and from my first mouthful I was hooked.
It's like the first time you taste a cocktail or a drink that has a spirit or liqueur that really appeals to you.
You recognise the taste and it forms a memory – a flavour profile that lingers like a ghost in a dream. Is it real? What part of the dish IS it?
You want to de-construct it and understand.
I had to see the process and document it for your benefit (I told myself) but really it was for mine.
The fact that this was mashed into a dip didn't hurt either.
There was no plump shiny hexapod to contend with – only a creamy textured dish with an incredible taste.
There was no plump shiny hexapod to contend with – only a creamy textured dish with an incredible taste.
We picked up the bugs from the market. They are called Maeng Da, which means 'pimp'.
As in 'lives off the earnings of working girls'.
Just like the big felt-hatted US variety with fashion-murdering flares and platform heels as featured in 'Austin Powers'.
Just like the big felt-hatted US variety with fashion-murdering flares and platform heels as featured in 'Austin Powers'.
These are water beetles that skim the surface of ponds in the wet season, and the locals usually just catch them, so 'Dad' was a bit freaked out at having to shell out 12 baht each to buy them for me – being expensive due to the lack of rain thus far into the season.
Never mind. I stumped up the 60 baht for 5 each and another 40 baht for a couple of wriggling catfish, and we drove home ready for the upcoming feast.
I don't tell the story anywhere near as well as my camera, so let me scribble the recipe below and run through it with you.
If you can get your head around this, it's an awesome thing to try.
Water beetle & catfish dip recipe
2 ea. small catfish
2 ea lemongrass sticks
salt to taste
water for poaching fish
3 ea. maeng da water beetles – 3 each
3 ea Thai green chillies – toasted over a gas or wood fire flame
4 ea. garlic cloves
salt – to taste
1 dsp toasted dry red chilli flakes – 1 dsp
2 dsp coriander – chopped fresh at the last minute
1-2 ea spring onion
- Put catfish in a pot with water, crushed lemongrass twisted into a knot, and some salt to taste
- Simmer gently 5-8 minutes until cooked through.
- Remove the fish – take the flesh off the bones and set aside.
- Strain and reserve the fish cooking liquid (lemongrass fish stock)
- Skewer the Maeng Da water beetles
- Hold over a gas flame and toast for a minute or two until cooked through and aromatic
- Add the garlic to a mortar and pestle and crush by pounding
- Add the flame roasted chillies and mpound also to combine with the garlic.
- Finely chop the whole Maeng Da beetles and pound to a soft paste until the shells are puréed video here
- Add the fish and pound to a paste video here
- Add the toasted chilli flakes, coriander and chopped spring onion.
- Stir in enough of the lemongrass & fish poaching water to bring it to a soft dipping consistency.
- Mix together to combine
- Serve and top with freshly chopped spring onion.
- Serve with fresh boiled vegetables.
We used boiled baby loofah (gourd) and Thai 'praya' eggplants, boiled until soft. Plus the ubiquitous steamed white sticky rice of course
The catfish is poached with lemongrass.
The meat is used as the base for the dip and the stock/broth is used to thin the dip
Chillies are also flame roasted and pounded with garlic in the mortar and pestle
Chop up by shredding finely. Then you have to pound them to a puree with the garlic and chilli
Add the boneless fish which has been poached with lemongrass. This is the base of the dip"
The meat is used as the base for the dip and the stock/broth is used to thin the dip
Chillies are also flame roasted and pounded with garlic in the mortar and pestle
Chop up by shredding finely. Then you have to pound them to a puree with the garlic and chilli
Add the boneless fish which has been poached with lemongrass. This is the base of the dip"
Mash the fish by pounding, add in toasted red chilli flakes
Add the spring onion and coriander, then pour in the lemongrass broth to loosen and hydrate the dip
Here's the finished fish and water beeetle dip
Serve with boiled vegetables and sticky rice.
Taste, and realise that you either love or hate the distinctive and haunting flavour of Maeng Da
Looks very tasty! But, for the sake of accuracy, the insects you show are not beetles (Order Coleoptera) , they are giant water bugs (Order Hemiptera, family Belostomatidae).
Thanks Luciana.
I thought there may be a bug in this blog release 1.0
Now I'm over in Da Nang, Vietnam central Coast, living and working on the beach.
The other morning I saw an almost identical bug struggling down the sand and into the surf. then it swam off.
I've never seen these in the sea before.
Any ideas if it is same or related species?
I believe the ones in Thailand live in freshwater ponds.
I'm also told that they can give a nasty bite.
Thanks for your feedback, clarification and comment
I don’t always agree with you (thank God, that would be boring), but I have to tell you you are a great writer.
Thanks Cody.
On the bright side, tell me what's bugging you – and I'll help you turn it into dinner.
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Thanks for your comments.
Greetings from Vietnam – good to have someone from Houston reading and enjoying.
Glad you like the path less travelled.
Your blog is showing more interest and enthusiasm. Thank you .
Hello Chef Shane-
My husband and I bought four Maeng Da Na bugs at our local asian market. I was wondering what to do with them and stumbled upon your blog. The bugs we have are marked male, for preparing this recipe is it neccessary to have males or females? Also, I saw at the market some canned crickets in brine, do you know how those might be prepared? I've wanted to give insects a try for a while, but I'm not sure how to get started.
Hi Stephanie,
yes, this recipe is for male Maeng Da. The male has the delicious flavour.
You can chopit, puree it, or unfold the tummy and scrape out the ‘caviar’
Truly delicious.
Females have less flavour and are normally deepfried. You can stuff them and fry them too.
Crickets and grasshoppers are great fried crispy. I haven’t tried bottled ones.
Their crunchiness and flavour is great. Let me know how the brined ones are as a snack. Perhaps they would be good in a salad too.
Love the photo of the bugs on the plate – mind if I use it for a project?
nice blog bookmarked
I was station at Korat Thailand in 1972 and I remember the rice beetle landing on the flight line because of the lights. The Thais love to eat them, they prefer the male bug over the female. The maaeng daa (rice beetle) lay in the rice paddy eating rice, when the raining season comes the beetle takes to the sky, and is attracted to the lights of the city or air base. They land in the thousands. They have a good bite if they land on you.
Thanks for the info. Sounds hectic.
I bet you’d be keen to avoid being landed on by biting maeng da
I like this post, enjoyed this one thanks for posting .
so much wonderful info on here, : D.
Liking the recent changes you’ve made mate!!