silkworm pupae on sweet potato toast!?

You just don't find any insect foodstuffs where I'm from(or in any supermarket in North America, for that matter)- unless you happen to visit an Asian supermarket(especially a Korean one). I found a can of silkworm pupae at a Korean supermarket. I knew I had to buy it and use it in a video! 

Even in 2017, the only place you can readily find edible insects for sale is online. So I was pretty psyched(do people even say that anymore, lol?) to find it at a brick and mortar store. 

My initial plan in my head was to just clean the pupae, marinate them in some sauce, sautee them, and eat it. But 130 grams of silkworm pupae is not enough food for a meal. Then I saw pictures of sweet potato toast pop up on my Instagram feed. When I see a new food craze, I always want to make fun of it by making it as gross as possible and bugs on sweet potato toast will just do the trick! 

The silkworm pupae on their own don't taste like anything, but they do leave a wet sneaker aftertaste, which is masked by soy sauce or Korean BBQ sauce. But the pupae do something interesting when you put Korean BBQ sauce on them- they disintegrate and all you see are black dots which can only be their organs or insides! Yes, I tried the insect organs and they remind me of poppy seeds! I told you food would get weird on this channel. 

Silkworm pupae also pair well with guacamole, surprisingly enough. 

Naturally, my dad didn't try this recipe, because like 99% of Americans, he's creeped out by bugs, so eating them is out of the question. 

Making this recipe is easy but waiting for the bugs to be removed of any remnants of the fluid they came in the can takes a couple of hours. But it is so worth it in the end! 

I used red palm oil to sautee the pupae, thinking they would turn color like the onions did in this video. But alas, they didn't and all I ended up with was a spatula stained yellow. :(

But I bet someday future generations will be eating bugs as proteins either along traditional protein sources like chicken and cow, or possibly in lieu of such sources. Maybe that will happen in my lifetime even. 

Usually, I don't spotlight or give a shoutout to other YouTube channels but I gave a shoutout to Food Oddities, a channel where a guy named Remy tries weird food. I make weird food, he eats weird food- what a perfect pairing!

HELPFUL LINK: Silkworm Pupae: https://www.amazon.com/Korean-Food-Silkworm-Pupa-Canned/dp/B00OPMX1HS

You will need: 

For the cooking equipment: 

A medium bowl
A colander
A baking sheet
A frying pan
A spatula

100-130 grams Silkworm Pupae(see HELPFUL LINK)
Water
2 medium sweet potatoes
Red palm oil for sauteeing the silkworm pupae
Guacamole 
Korean BBQ Sauce

1. Drain the liquid out of the can of silkworm pupae. Place the silkworm pupae in a medium bowl. Fill the bowl with cold water. Let the pupae sit in the cold water for an hour. 
2. Change the water by pouring the pupae into a colander to drain the water. Put the pupae back in the bowl. Fill with cold water again. 
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 two more times. If the pupae you have didn't come in a can, skip steps 1-3. 
4. Cut 2 medium sweet potatoes lengthwise. Ideally you want the slices to be 1/4-inch thick but you need a very sharp knife to do that. Otherwise, you'll just end up with sweet potato boats. 
5. Put the slices of "toast" onto a baking tray. Bake in a 450 degree Fahrenheit oven for 5-10 minutes, flipping them over halfway through(don't do this if you have boats instead of "toast"). 
6. After 10 minutes, if the sweet potato slices are still raw, cook them on the other side in the microwave for 3 minutes, before flipping them over and cooking them for another 30 seconds. 
7. Pat dry the silkworm pupae with a paper towel after they are done soaking.
8. Pour red palm oil into a frying pan. Spread the oil around the pan. Turn the stove on to heat the oil up.
9. Once the oil is heated up, put the pupae into the frying pan. Sautee the pupae by flipping them over with a spatula constantly and moving them around the pan. Do this for 1-2 minutes.
10. Put guacamole on top of the slices of sweet potato toast. Top the guacamole with the sauteed pupae. Top the pupae with Korean BBQ sauce. Don't be alarmed if the bugs disintegrate and all you see are black dots. That's completely normal!
​11. Bon appetit!  

​