Oh my Lord! Camaru or mole crickets! What in heaven’s name is that? Something delish my dear, something delish! I was a very young child when I was first baptized with the flavor of this munchie. It’s treated as an appetizer or as a side dish. During the time of planting rice, the rice fields are plowed and out comes the mole crickets (gryllotalpidae) who mostly feed on the roots of the rice. The children gather them and place them in cloth or woven bags to keep them alive before handing them over to their mothers. At this stage the mole cricket still has baby kind of wings; once the mole cricket starts flying around, you don’t eat them anymore.
Would you believe that the pregnant mole cricket is the most delicious of all? This is because the eggs inside the abdomen gives you little pops as you chew on them. Really delish.
Procedure for preparing the mole crickets are in the recipe below.
Depending on how much mole crickets you have, here is a basic recipe for first turning them into adobo. Then you can either pan fry them for a crispy appetizer or sautéing them for a nice side dish.
Camaru Mole Crickets - two ways
Here are two ways to enjoy Camaru or Mole Crickets: as an appetizer and as a side dish
Ingredients
- 500 grams cleaned camaru (mole crickets)
- Recipe 1, Appetizer: Fried Adobong Camaru
- ½ cup vinegar
- ¼ cup cooking sake
- 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon msg
- Oil for frying
- Recipe 2, Side dish: Sautéed Camaru
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- ½ tablespoon garlic crushed
- 1 onion chopped
- ½ cup chopped tomato
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparing the Camaru
Usually, the crickets have to have certain parts removed. For starters, most of the wings have to be GENTLY removed.
Then comes the part where you see how the cricket eats; this you have to remove too.
Next comes the legs; remove the big front and back legs; you don’t have to remove the tinny tiny legs.
Give the mole crickets a quick rinse; then drain.
Recipe 1, Appetizer: Fried Adobong Camaru
In a non-reactive saucepan, place the vinegar, sake, garlic, salt, pepper and msg.
Mix in the cleaned mole crickets and place over a very low fire.
Simmer, while gently mixing the crickets, for about 5 minutes.
Remove from fire and cool.
One method of cooking the mole crickets is by pan frying them till they are crispy but not burnt. You do this by placing cooking oil in the pan and heating it up but low fire.
Toss the crickets around in the oil till they are crispy.
Recipe 2, Side dish: Sautéed Camaru
In a small saucepan, put in the oil; sauté the garlic and onion.
Once the onion has softened, add the tomato, salt and pepper.
Sauté for about 2 to 3 minutes then add the mole crickets that have been simmered in vinegar.
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