There’s a SCORPION in my curry!
by Shirley Chan
(ThermalAir, Rotorua Daily Post)
“The scorpion’s telsons(stingers) still have full venomous glands; the microbiological analysis from the Instituto de Biotechnologia at the universidad nacional autonama de Mexico are available should these be needed”. I prayed I would not need the analysis and that I would live to write this story.
When I entered Lovely India on Tutanekai Street, I was met by warm welcome, soft Indian music and the lovely smells of spices wafting through the restaurant from the kitchen. With the best cup of Indian “Chai” I have ever tasted in my hand, standing in this modern restaurant, with sunlight streaming in through the glass walls, I was transported – India was, indeed, lovely. Now, I was ready to face the formidable scorpion (Class Arachnida, like the spider, harvestman, mites and ticks) I had come to savour.
My brief said, “The scorpions are farm-raised in Mexico specially for human consumption. No preservatives, chemicals, colouring or flavours are used before they are marinated in Skorppio Vodka”.
The organic-raising of these scorpions seemed least important when I realised that “the scorpion’s telsons(stingers) still have full venomous glands; the microbiological analysis from the Instituto de Biotechnologia at the universidad nacional autonama de Mexico are available should these be needed”.
It was also “recommended that you do not eat the stinger as this is quite hard, similar to a shrimp tail”. If anything worried me, it was not the hardness of the stinger. I prayed I would not need the analysis and that I would live to write this story.
The scorpions arrived perched on a lettuce leaf on top of a chicken curry, their bodies shiny from being fried in oil and there seemed to be a million curled-up legs on each body, the stingers at the ends of their tails pointing skyward and their eyes seemed to watch my every move.
Before my courage deserted me and with pounding heart, I banished from my mind, all images of spiders, ticks, mites, spiny legs, multiple eyes, leggy things with knobbly tails and lethal stingers and grabbed one by its tail, put it in my mouth and bit into it, all the while hanging onto its tail and stinger to ensure I did not inject myself with venom.
With a squish and a crunch, I chewed the vodka-marinated scorpions, discarding the stinger at the end of its knobbly tail. Surprisingly, the mix of vodka, garlic and butter made the scorpions quite palatable.
For most of us who may be touched by a case of “arachnophobia”, eating a scorpion is more a mental challenge than a physical one. It drains you of every ounce of courage just to put something as formidable-looking as a scorpion into your mouth and resist the natural urge to retch or spit it all out and not think of the seemingly millions of legs sticking to your insides as they clawed their way down into your stomach.
If you think these scorpions only come cooked, try them raw, in shot glasses, where you can eat the vodka-marinated creatures au naturel with your choice of spirits.
Besides scorpions, Lovely India also introduces three new ways to eat scallops. Butter Scallops is a dish of tender whole scallops fried with ginger, garlic and herbs before they are finished in a mild creamy tomato-flavoured sauce, topped with almonds and cream. If you think Butter Chicken is delicious and also love scallops, you will surely love this dish.
Saag Scallops, a wonderfully delectable dish of scallops cooked in a fine, mild puree of fresh spinach, herbs and spices and Scallop Marsala, succulent scallops cooked in a spicy gravy, green capsicums and sliced onions and fresh herbs, served with naan bread, fluffy Indian rice and Mango Lassi sent me straight to scallop heaven.
Scallop heaven helped me forget scorpion hell quite easily and I will surely be back to Lovely India again. Perhaps I will test the courage of my friends with the restaurant’s scorpions for it is, indeed, a must-have experience of a lifetime.