Ant Egg Soup

Name: Ant Egg Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 27 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 60 g red ant eggs; 350 ml water; 1 stalk lemongrass; 3 slices galangal; 1 shallot; 2 kaffir lime leaves; 2 bird's eye chillies; 50 g oyster mushrooms; 30 g cha-om (acacia leaves); 1 tbsp tamarind paste; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 1 tsp padaek (fermented fish sauce); 1 spring onion; 2 leaves sawtooth coriander; 1 tsp palm sugar; 100 g cooked sticky rice

Tom khai mot daeng, an Isaan clear sour soup of red ant eggs and their young ants simmered with lemongrass, galangal and tamarind. The eggs burst with a milky sourness and the little ants add their own citrus tang, so the broth is kept thin and sharp and eaten hot with sticky rice.

Snacks Lunch & dinner 8g+ fibre Under 30 min

27 min15 prep · 12 cookMedium454 kcalper serving

Method

Tip 60 g of red ant eggs into a bowl of cold water and swirl once with your fingers. The eggs and the little ants sink while bits of leaf and twig from the nest float; skim the debris off and lift the eggs out with a slotted spoon into a sieve. Do not rinse under a running tap or the delicate eggs will split. Set aside in the fridge.
Prepare the aromatics: smash 1 stalk of lemongrass along its length with the back of a knife and cut into 3 cm pieces, slice 1 of shallot thinly, tear 2 of kaffir lime leaves in half through the spine, and lightly crush 2 of bird's eye chillies so they leak heat without breaking apart.
Put 350 ml of water in a small saucepan with the bruised lemongrass, 3 slices of galangal, the sliced shallot, the torn lime leaves and the crushed chillies. Bring to the boil over high heat, then drop to a steady simmer for 5 minutes, until the broth smells strongly of lemongrass and galangal.