From yuck to yum is just a small ANT’s crawl away. We’re talking about omelets with ants' eggs. Sceptical? All you need to do is ask Dr K.Suresh Kumar, founder-director of the Institute of Palliative Medicine, Kozhikode, about its veracity. A travel freak, he’s quite into the freak food habits of different cultures and ethnic groups he has met and spent entire days with during the course of his extensive jaunts abroad.
Welcome to ants special!
Most people are allergic to the presence of ants. They bite and hence need to be wiped out. That is the common sentiment, but not for the Thais. It was a bunch of Thai students who showed the doctor how edible ant eggs were. They were of the red species… red ants or what we call neer in Kerala.
This is how the students go about it. They deftly rip out an ant nest from a mango tree. This is then pressed down into a bucket of water and opened out. The water is stirred and the larger ants are allowed to flee. The residue of eggs and larvae is then collected. Half a kilo of ant eggs and larvae can thus be had if 33 ant nests are taken out successfully. In summer the eggs are available in almost all shops at a cost equivalent to around Indian Rupees 1,500 for a kilo.
There are several groups of people, ethnic minorities or otherwise who dine on ants’ eggs. This is common food in Thailand, Laos and Mexico. Though Dr Suresh has heard that mazha paatta (eeyal) is a favourite in India’s northeastern states and that tribals in Wayanad make chammanthi and chutney with ants, he’s never had an occasion to taste them.
Coming back to ants’ eggs, quite a lot of dishes can be turned out with them. The doctor recalls how a couple of medical students treated him to a bowl of ant eggs soup in a Thai restaurant. That was his first taste of the insect. From then on, it was ants egg omelet and ants egg salad all through his trips. The omelets are easy to try out… much like our egg omelets. Break the eggs into their mix and before they are fully cooked, sprinkle the ant larva over them. Mmmm..delicious!
Of all the ant specials, the healthiest and most nutritious is the ant salad. Here’s a quick recipe: You will need a few shallots, a bit of tamarind in water, a handful of aval (rice flakes), two green chillies, a spoon of fish sauce, a pinch of salt and a handful of ants’ eggs. Mix all the ingredients to get ant salad. Though this is a tasty dish, the fish sauce may put people off. It could be quite revolting to our palates too, he says.
There’s no truth to the old-time saying that dining on ants will brighten one’s vision.
When viewed from the health hazards we surround ourselves with, there is nothing as pure and as unadulterated as ants. Free of pesticides, chemicals, hormones and added preservatives, they are fresh, nutritious and free of cholesterol. They are available in abundance. The days are not too far when the dish is sure to make a splash on the dining tables of health-obsessed Mallus.
