Weaver Ants Eggs

Weaver Ant Egg Salad

Weaver Ants eggs are a highly prized delicacy in Thailand. Weaver ants produce their eggs only once a year during the cooler months December to Jaruary, during this time, the time consuming, and sometimes painful task of collecting the eggs take place, they are then wrapped in bannana leaves and sold at local markets.

Locals prepare these eggs with shallots, lettuce, chillies, lime and spices and serve with sticky rice to provide a dish rich in nutrition and good flavour.

Stir Fried Weaver Ants Eggs Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 clove of garlic
1 stick of lemongrass, finely chopped
5-10 small Thai chilies
1 large mild red chili chopped into medium size pieces
3 chopped green onions
3 Thai eggplants
3 small red onions, (shallots)
2 handfuls of ant eggs (Kai Mod Daeng) Click here to order
Approx 1 to 2 teaspoon of fish sauce
1 kaffir lime leaf rolled and sliced thinly into slivers

Method:

Over the hot embers of a charcoal BBQ fire, place the egg plant, garlic, and chili to roast. You can use a standard home oven if you wish but BBQ’s taste better.
When they are cooked remove them from the BBQ or oven and allow them to cool.
Remove any black burnt pieces from the vegetables, then pound them to a pulp with a mortar and pestle, this paste is called ‘kheuang’ in Thailand.
Prepare the red onions by chopping them into regular pieces.
Place half of the cut onions, three crushed and diced garlic cloves, chopped lemon grass and 2 tablespoons of oil into a skillet or wok. Stir fry until the garlic starts to turn brown.
Add the fish sauce, ant eggs, three quarters of the green onions and the roasted pulp (kheuang) and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the kaffir lime leaf pieces and give the dish a final stir over high heat, then transfer to a serving bowl.
Add the remaining red and green onion and mix it together or simply throw them on the top of the dish as a fresh garnish.
Serve immediately with glutinous (sticky) rice. It is eaten by rolling small balls of sticky rice and dipping them in the stir fried ant’s eggs.

This dish shouldn’t be over-cooked after the ant eggs are added.  The texture of the eggs should be comparable to a soft boiled chicken egg.

Now you can enjoy this unique northeastern Thai dish.