Karen's comment in the Manila Bulletin article below about rice paddy snails reminded me of this delicacy. My mom visited last month to pick up the girls, and while she was here we made a trip to the Chinese grocery store in Raleigh. I have seen these snails there before, but I never bought any because one, I wasn't sure if they were the right kind and two, I wasn't sure how I would fix it. She was excited to see these, because she says she hadn't even seen them in LA. She says they are called "leddeg" in Ilokano. I think they are river snails.
When we got them home, we gave them a good washing and soaked them in water for a while. Mom was glad to see they had prepped them already. Apparently, you have to break or crush the bottom part of each snail, to release the pressure and make the flesh easier to get to once they're cooked.
These were cooked simply, in boiling water with onions and ginger with a bit of tamarind powder thrown in. My mom liked the soup a lot. I hate that I didn't think about it, but I probably could have thrown in some pepper leaves for added flavor, and I sure have lots of pepper leaves in the garden. Ah, well, maybe next time.
Ay JMom, you got it right! Pepper leaves will make the soup more tasty. Perhaps you can also try another variation later, a bit dry saute with just garlic, slices of squash and pepper leaves.
Oh what a great idea, Karen! Thanks, I'll have to try that next time I more of these snails. I hope it's not too long. I hesitate getting these things when my family is not around, cause I end up being the only one eating it, with the kids and hubby as audience :-) no fun, when you're eating by yourself.
So this dry saute, it's just like a stirfy then? What do you season with? oyster sauce maybe?
hi, bloghopping here :)
i think i went to the same chinese store in raleigh you went to a week and a half ago. i'm from Smithfield, just moved here in June :)
Hi dexiekins! Thanks for visiting, are you really living in N.C.? wow! Maybe we'll get to meet each other one of these days ;-) I love going to that Chinese store in Raleigh. They absolutely have everthing for asian cooking! Well, just about everything :-)
yup, you're like 35 minutes drive away? awesome. hopefully we'll meet someday. :) i was really surprised at that chinese store. i even saw bibingka and suman at their desserts section :)