Cameron Highlands, Malaysia: Caterpillar fungus, Brinchang Markets and assam laksa


"They're worms!" we cry out to Billy as we lean in closer to inspect.
Billy laughs. They're actually caterpillar fungus, a parasite that attacks hibernating caterpillar larvae and taps into its circulatory system. The fungus starves the larvae, enveloping the insect and taking on its shape until it is effectively mummified.
The Chinese call it dong chong chao. With a long list of reputed

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meatless Monday: Chickpea and Tomato Soup with Pimentón

Image
I needed to look up some Portuguese recipes for a friend last weekend and obviously I turned to the very helpful Leite's Culinaria website. I did find the recipes I was looking for, plus a lot more. One of them was this simple, yet delicious soup recipe, originally from Tamasin Day-Lewis's book "Supper for a Song: Creative Comfort Food for the Resourceful Cook" . I've adapted the recipe a little to suit our tastes, and we'll be definitely making this again. Puréeing some of the chickpeas/garbanzos to thicken the soup was a neat idea, and you can add more or less pimentón (aka smoked paprika) depending on the freshness and strength of your paprika powder. While it's filling, it's also gluten-free and vegan, so perfect recipe for a Meatless Monday . Chickpea and Tomato Soup with Smoked Paprika ( Kikerherne-tomatisupp, kergelt suitsune ) Serves four 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 red onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 celery sticks,...
Read more

A Wild Mushroom Meatloaf Recipe for the National Meatloaf Appreciation Day

Image
The good people over at Serious Eats: A Food Blog & Community have declared coming Friday the National Meatloaf Appreciation Day . I take the 'national' here to mean 'US American', but assume that foodblogging is a borderless activity and they accept my humble Estonian submission, too. Here's a meatloaf I made few months ago. I wanted to blog about it in Spring, I did, as it was a really tasty meatloaf. However, I used some spring mushrooms that according to all Estonian, Finnish & Swedish mushroom experts classify as 'delicious eating mushrooms' (and I've got no reason to doubt the expertise of region's mushroom guidebooks), but by Northern American mushroom guides should be avoided at any cost*. I didn't want my Northern American readers to worry about me, so I didn't post about the meatloaf back then :) However, as you can use any other spring, summer or autumn mushrooms here (morels would be especially suitable because of their v...
Read more

Saffron Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Image
Another cake I made for my dear K's mother's birthday party last weekend * was this saffron carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. A recipe is from the Swedish Arla site ( Saffran- och morotskaka ) and although I was a bit heavy-handed with saffron (we've got loads at home, and it's not easy to measure out half a gram when our scales only recognise 2 g increments!), the cake was a success. Moist and bright-coloured, with a wee bit tangy frosting. * We only attended the Saturday party and were surprised to find out that the most famous Estonian composer - probably the only Estonian composer most of you have ever heard of (who also happens to be a classmate of K's mum) - made a surprise appearance at the party on Sunday. If we had only known that before, I would have turned up on Sunday as well :) Anybody wants to guess who was eating my cakes? The hint I'm giving you is that K's mum turned 72. Saffron Carrot Cake ( Safrani-porgandikook toorjuustuglasuur...
Read more