Mealworm Stir Fry!

Mealworms today! I was a little more squeemish with handling these bugs. They wrap around your finger when you pick them up, and they were a little more resistant to blanching than the crickets were. Many of them attempted to climb up the sides of the pot to escape a boiled defeat. Cooking live bugs is very similar to cooking live lobster. The smell is especially similar to lobster and shrimp.
After I blanched the worms, I decided I would make a basic stir-fry, which is a traditional preparation of this bug in many Asian cultures.

Below is a recipe I concocted from the random produce I had in my fridge. If your going to make this stir-fry, feel free to use any produce you would like. The base flavors and the worms are what make the preparation a traditional one.

Mealworm Stir Fry
30 mealworms, blanched, patted dry
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small white onion
1 small carrot, cut rondelle on the bias
1/2 cup rainbow swiss chard, cut into thin strips
2 cups kale, cut into thin strips
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp hot pepper flakes
2 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 cups cooked jasmine rice

In a hot pan, saute mealworms, garlic, onion, and carrot in sesame oil. When worms and veggies are seared well, deglaze pan with rice wine vinegar. Add rainbow swiss chard, kale, soy sauce and hot pepper flakes. Toss stir fry until the chard and kale are wilted and cooked. Serve on jasmine rice.

When sauteed, mealworms have a crunchy exterior and a chewy interior. When bitten into, the insides of the mealworm melt on the palette, giving a sensation similar to butter. The flavor is fish-like, and slightly earthen and nutty. The worms that I purchased were .5 grams in weight each, meaning I used 15 grams of mealworm in this recipe. The nutritional value of this amount of worms is listed below:

141 calories
4.26 g fat
17.48 g protein
6.9 g carbohydrates
2 g dietary fiber

Mealworms also provide ample amounts of vitamin C and calcium.