be gentle to my tummy ur my first cricket!

Today was my first brush with eating the famed deep fried cricket dish from Pampanga, thanks to birthday girl TriporTreats.blogspot.com!

 

Turns out this little bugger is called a MOLE CRICKET... Camaro (not the car!)/Kamaro to us Pinoys. According to Wiki, Mole crickets are omnivores, feeding on larvae, worms, roots, and grasses. So just imagine that as you feast on the yummy suckers (which is how they usually feed themselves--they burrow underground and suck the life out of their prey) you also feast on whatever delicious food repertoire they had for the day... delightful!

 

According to Tito Jet, our resident ka-Pampangan and extreme cuisine expert, Kamaro/Camaro/ Mole Crickets are harvested in the rice fields after a downpour as the little critters would come out of their holes to scavenge for food.  They then would patiently scoop up the buggers and immediately clean and deep-fry them twice. Then only will they be able to flavor the insects with chilli, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and other spices to create their flavored and favored Kamaro.

Adobong Kamaro/Camaro

I love the dainty chopsticks I used while sampling them. It took the "icky" factor away from the whole gruesome situation... (overkill--gruesome! hahaha!) But seriously my first impression was to say "icky" because of the fact that it resembled a miniature alien while approaching my snapper and because the texture was somewhat odd. But when you get to register the flavor after the fear of choking-on-one-of-its-leg subsides, the little bugger tasted just like chicharon (pork rind) dipped in vinegar. It was crunchy, a bit juicy from the vinegar and soy sauce they used to cook it in. It also had an earthy grainy taste similar to eating the insides of escargot without the bitter after taste. So, all in all the experience was delightfully surprising but not to be repeated on a regular basis... only during an occasional dare. I can really picture though that the dish could be a good accompaniment to fried rice or as a topping for a hot and spicy soup or dish. Not my cup of tea when eaten alone.

Have you ever tried the little buggers? Apparently they are considered aphrodisiacs and special treats in countries such as Vietnam, Mexico, Bangkok etc. So if you've tried them, share your experience with me... may it be your firstime or your nth time. Till the next dare... see ya!

Hi I'm your resident Gryllotalpidae and FT has just sampled me up... Have you?!