By admin | August 20, 2006
The bug parade
Here’s two nice snacks for you. We got the bugs, then we got my sandwich. The sandwich was good, but I don’t think you care about that. Of course the more interesting aspect is those rather large insects. The scorpions (maeng bpawng [à¹à¸¡à¸‡à¸›à¹ˆà¸à¸‡]) are interesting, but I’ve written about those before here. Those other bugs there are known as water cockroaches, or maeng da [à¹à¸¡à¸¥à¸‡à¸”า].  You can read a whole ton more about maengda here: Insects galore.
They may look strange, even disgusting, to many people, but they are a very important part of Thai cuisine. Â I still prefer my sandwich, but it’s nice to experience new things.
Scorpion closeup
By admin | August 20, 2006
Bucket of Eels
Eels (bplaa lai [ปลาไหล]) are a common food in rural Thailand. Don’t get these eels confused with your unagi sushi, though. These eels are tiny like garden snakes and not nearly as meaty as the Japanese version. They are cut like a steak (as opposed to a fillet), although each ‘steak’ would be one bite riddled with bones. Yes they are tiny. And there ends up being a lot of little bones. It’s quite a chore to eat. It is generally used as the meat for various curries or it can always be mixed in to the all time favorite with basil leaves, pad graprao[ผัดà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸²].
By admin | August 20, 2006
Here’s a bin with some coagulated blood chunks [luad – เลืà¸à¸”]. Apparently cow blood is too dark and smells while chicken blood gets a bit tough, so they aren’t used much. What we have here is pig blood. And it tastes like…blood! If you’ve ever got a cut in your mouth you’ll know what I mean. The consistency is very soft like pudding.
Coagulated blood chunks
Anyway, the blood is commonly used as an additive in soups. If it is coagulated like this, it is cut into large cubes. It can also be a liquid added in for flavor, commonly called nam dtok [น้ำตà¸]or waterfall. I don’t particularly enjoy the taste and while I’m sure it is high in iron, I bet it has a bit too much cholesterol to be considered healthy.
I wouldn’t mind eating some of those steamed fish sitting alongside the blood.
By admin | August 16, 2006
The variety plate
Here’s a nice selection of insects. I’ll give some common thoughts and opinions that many foreigners have when they try these. On the plate we have (clockwise from 12:00, although they are a bit mixed up):
- ants mixed with lemongrass and chilis (miang mot daeng [เมี่ยงมดà¹à¸”ง]) – Tastes like chilis and lemongrass.
- bamboo worms (only 1 left) (rot duan [รถด่วน]) – Dry and crispy, like a potato chip.
- grasshoppers (dtagadtaen [ตั๊à¸à¹à¸•à¸™]) – Also just like potato chips.
- silk worm larva (dakdae [ดัà¸à¹à¸”้]) – Kind of juicy and they pop in your mouth.
All in all, not too bad of an opinion for these bugs. I think most people are just scared off by the looks, but once they actually try them they decide they’re not too bad. Â Of course, I don’t often see them going back for seconds (unless they’ve been drinking). Â As you can tell, someone already had there way with this plate before I even got to snap my photo!
By admin | August 13, 2006
The whole bird
Look at these tasty fried birds. I’m not sure what kind of bird they are, perhaps pigeons or something like that. In Thai its simply called fried bird (nok tawt [นà¸à¸—à¸à¸”]). I’m not sure what the appeal is with these either. There’s barely any meat on them and its mostly just crunchy bones and miscellaneous inside pieces. I guess this just goes along with that crunchy snacks Thais tend to enjoy such as chicken ankles and fermented rib pieces. The overall taste is okay, like chicken, but I’ll say it again: the texture isn’t very pleasant. I especially like the fact that they leave the head right on there. Is it edible at all? I won’t be finding out. Another one that was much better for photos than filling me up.
Cut in half
Closer
Head shot
The platter
Here’s a tasty bar snack that goes great with beer. While it may look intimidating at first, most of these items are actually quite tasty. In the bowl we have ants (miang mot daeng [เมี่ยงมดà¹à¸”ง]). I talk about miang mod daeng here, although as is the norm, there is no coconut in this mixture. In front of them we have tiny frogs (kiad yang [เขียดย่าง]). On the left side we have grasshoppers (dtagadtaen [ตั๊à¸à¹à¸•à¸™]). Just a few more of your standard bug selection in Southeast Asia.
Angle 2
Closeup!
Frog closeup
The ingredients
This is a traditional Thai snack called miang kam [เมี่ยงคำ], which supposedly had its origin around North Thailand in ancient times. Due to its simplicity, I can easily visualize people eating this snack ages ago. All you do is take some large, chaapluu leaves [ช้าพลู] to wrap the ingredients up before popping it in your mouth. From wikipedia:
The origin of the name is in “eating many things in one bite”; from “miang” (เมี่ยง), meaning “food wrapped in leaves”, and “kham” (คำ), “a bite”
Eating all the ingredients mixed together can give you quite a sensation with the mix of flavors. The leaves themselves add a slightly bitter taste to the mix.
This ingredients you put in the leaves can be any combination you want. On the plate there is (clockwise from 12): roasted coconut shavings, lime, tiny dried shrimp, red onion, ginger, more lime pieces, and in the middle are peanuts. You actually put in a little piece of lime like those at back, rind and all, because you want a little bit of that bitterness. Once the leaf is full of what you want, you spoon on some very sweet palm syrup. The palm syrup also has fish sauce in it to add saltiness. You can also add freshly diced chilies if you want some spice or green (raw) banana with peel if you want some bitterness. Lastly, close up the leaf and try to pop it in your mouth with out making a huge mess.
All in all, miang kam is a fun activity with a tasty result. I tend to avoid the ginger, banana and chilies, but everything else is good.
The making of
The so-called weeds
I call this a dinner of weeds because essentially that’s what it seems like to me. Get some chili sauce (nam prik [น้ำพริà¸]) to dip the veggies, a plate of rice as the base, and maybe a tiny fish for some protein. There’s countless combinations this dish can take with all types of chili sauces and plenty of odd vegetables to use. The vegetables are generally a mixture of fresh and parboiled. Pictured here are some of the standards all though there are many, many more to pick from. From left to right:
- baby long eggplants (makua yao [มะเขืà¸à¸¢à¸²à¸§])
- long beans, hidden underneath (tua fak yao [ถั่วà¸à¸±à¸à¸¢à¸²à¸§])
- water acacia (cha-om [ชะà¸à¸¡])
- ivy gourd greens, under the cha-om ( pak dtamlung [ผัà¸à¸•à¸³à¸¥à¸¶à¸‡]) (I could be wrong about this one)
- round eggplants (makua [มะเขืà¸])
- some other ‘weed’  (pak gwaangdung [ผัà¸à¸à¸§à¸²à¸‡à¸•à¸¸à¹‰à¸‡])
The cha-om is interesting in that it has thorns on it! If not boiled enough the thorns are still hard and can really hurt your mouth. Trust me on this. Once soft enough, though, it is a tasty vegetable.
Closeup of the cha-om
I recently posted about the gaeng som where I mentioned that a common addition is an omelet with a thai vegetable called cha-om (no common English name, but scientific name acacia pennata). Well, I decided I better go out and get a picture of the omelet. Here’s some ไข่เจียวชà¸à¸¡ [kai jiaw chaom]. As you can see its not quite an omelet by Western standards, but more of the vegetable being held together by some egg. I find it to be quite tasty and this particular one (since it didn’t end up in any gaeng som) will be used for dipping into some chili sauce.
Not exactly a western omelet
Chicken heart!
Well, this is a dish I hope not to eat again anytime soon. Take all the pieces of a chicken you wouldn’t usually eat, throw them in a skillet, add a few seasonings, and this is what you get. To be honest, the taste wasn’t all that bad. It’s mostly just the chewy, chunky, stringy, slimy textures that got to me. As you can see from the pictures, they really do throw everything in there. Some pieces were totally unidentifiable. This is not something you would order in a restaurant. This is more of a miscellaneous street food and that is where I purchased it. I asked a few Thais and they weren’t sure what exactly it would be called other than ‘stir fried chicken’.
Chicken Kidney?
Wow...look at all those chicken pieces!
