Chahuis

Toasted dry first and only then put into fat, because a beetle's shell will not crisp in oil from cold.

Not vegetarian — contains beetles, lard.

Ingredients

• 250 g chahuis (edible beetles), cleaned
• 2 tablespoons lard
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 chiles de árbol, in rings
• juice of 2 limes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve

Method

1. THEY ARE TOASTED DRY FIRST AND ONLY THEN PUT INTO FAT, because a beetle's shell will not crisp in oil from cold. A chahui has a hard chitinous shell with moisture trapped under it, and that is the problem: dropped straight into hot lard, the outside of the shell seals, the water inside turns to steam and stays there, and the beetle comes out leathery and faintly damp however long it is fried. Three or four minutes on a dry comal first drives that water out through the shell. Only then does the fat have anything to work on, and two minutes in lard crisps and flavours them. Two stages, and the first one is invisible in the finished dish.
2. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE GRASSHOPPER ON THE CHAPULINES PAGE, which is toasted dry and never meets fat at all. A grasshopper is thin and papery and dries to brittle on its own; a beetle is thick and needs the fat afterwards to be anything other than hard.
3. THE GARLIC GOES IN AFTER THEM AND NOT BEFORE. Sliced garlic in lard at the heat these need will be dark before the beetles are in. The beetles go into the hot lard first, and the garlic and chilli join them for the last minute only.
4. THEY ARE DRAINED ON A RACK AND NOT ON PAPER. Paper traps steam against the underside and softens exactly the shell that two stages of cooking just crisped. A rack, and they stay crisp for about twenty minutes.
5. THE LIME GOES ON AT THE TABLE AND NOT IN THE PAN. Squeezed over as they are eaten. Tossed in the pan or in a bowl beforehand, the shells take it up and go soft within a couple of minutes.
6. The chahuis gone through and any loose wing cases and legs picked off. Patted dry.
7. A comal or heavy pan set over a medium heat, COMPLETELY DRY.
8. The beetles toasted DRY 3 to 4 MINUTES, the pan shaken, until they stop giving off any steam and smell toasted.
9. Tipped out onto a plate.
10. The lard melted in the same pan over a medium-high heat.
11. The toasted beetles returned and fried 2 MINUTES, the pan shaken, until the shells are glossy and crisp.
12. The sliced garlic and chilli rings added for the LAST MINUTE only.
13. The salt scattered over and tossed through.
14. Lifted out onto a RACK -- not paper -- and left 1 minute.
15. TESTED: a shell should crack cleanly. If it bends, the dry toasting was cut short.
16. Served with tortillas and the limes cut, to be squeezed at the table.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes