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| A plate of plain fried crickets- Photo: Ngoc Xoan |
In sandy areas in the Mekong Delta, when it rains, many crickets appear. Rice crickets have round body and stumpy dark-yellow wings. They live in deep burrows that are about a finger width wide. People often catch crickets in the rainy season as the soil is soft and crickets wait at the entrance or climb up trees to escape the water.
After the crickets are caught, people pluck their wings and gut them and wash them in salty water. After the cricket dries, they stuff a peanut into its belly. Then they mix flour with water and knead it into a dough that they wrap the crickets in before deep frying. When the batter turns into yellow, the crickets are done and ready to serve. Crickets should be enjoyed with fresh vegetables, star fruit, green banana and fish sauce mixed with sugar, chili, lemon and garlic.
Com crickets have a life cycle of four months during which they shed their skin four times. The cricket becomes an adult when it’s two months old and two centimeters long. Price for a cricket is VND500.
