September 9, 2014

Boiled Water Caltrop 鮮煮菱角

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Nope...these things are not the deadly bat shaped ninja weapons that you're thinking they might be.  Rather, these are Water Caltrops, or 菱角, which are probably some of the funkiest, strangest nuts that ever existed.  I mean, who would know that these are 1) made by Mother Nature herself and 2) that one could actually eat these?!  It looks way too dangerous to eat!  

But it turns out that these mysterious nuts from an aquatic plant similar to the water lily has been cultivated and eaten in different countries for centuries.  The water caltrop even shows up as a motif in one of my favorite books of all time, The Dream of the Red Chamber, where one of the minor characters is even named Xiang Ling 香菱, translated to mean Fragrant Water Caltrop. (You have to read this novel, it's so amazing!)

These luminous looking water caltrops come to season around the time of the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival and are an important part of traditional festivities.

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Why, you say, would these weird looking nuts play a part in our lovely Chinese Mid Autumn Festival?  Well they look like bats and bats are lucky for the Chinese because the chinese words for bat has a 'fu' sound in it that sounds similar to 福, which is the word for luck. 

The preparation is simple, you just need to boil them.  Don't try these raw, though, they've got to be cooked.  The funny thing is that after you cook them, they look exactly like they did before you cooked it.  Never seen anything do that before!  

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Once cooked and cooled, this devilish nut has to be opened.  Yiks!  What to do?!  You must understand, if you have never beheld a Water Caltrop before, that this nut is one smooth hard as a stone piece of work, seemingly cast at one go from solid black.  

What we finally ended up using was our teeth, very, very carefully avoiding the sharp curving horns on each side.  It turns out that once the Water Caltrop is cooked, the nut is softened enough to where as few well placed and strong bites will crack the fruit.  Then you can just slowly peel off the shells.  (Or you could just use your nutcracker !)

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Water Caltrop Plant
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Water color from Japanese agricultural encyclopedia Seikei Zusetsu 1804

The white meat inside the nut inside tastes rather like a combo of roasted chestnut and cooked potato, only much more concentrated and only slightly sweet. It's an interesting mild taste and the texture is slightly hard and crumbly.  I have read that in Taiwan these bat nuts are roasted as a street snack.  Has anyone tried these street side roasted Water Caltrops?  Would love to know more about that.

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Last, but not least is the fun of these Water Caltrops for the children.  Show a child one of these shiny incredibly shaped nuts and watch their eyes grow big with wonder and excitement!  I think that must be a part of the reason these Water Caltrop nuts became associated to the Mid Autumn Festival, which has so many children centric activities (like lantern swinging/moongazing/general running around in the light of the full moon!)  Children just love these weird bat like nuts and will play with them for hours.  

My little girl did just that for the whole night and we ended up with bats flying everywhere in the house.  Just be sure and tell them to be careful of the bat wings and not to stab anyone with them!  Happy Chinese Mid Autumn Festival to all!
Boiled Water Caltrop Recipe   鮮煮菱角
(Prep time: 1 mins  Cook time: 30 mins)

Ingredients:

  • 20 water caltrops
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions:

Wash water caltrop.  Fill small pot with enough water to generously cover nuts.  When water is boiled, add star anise, salt and water caltrops.  Let cook, half covered, over medium heat for 30 minutes.  Add boiled water as needed if the water level gets low.  Strain out of pot and let cool.  

When water caltrop is cooled, you can crack them with your teeth (carefully!) or use a nutcracker and eat the white seed inside.  Happy Mid Autumn Festival!

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28 comments:

  1. That is the oddest looking thing I have ever seen, it looks kind of alien. But my love of chestnuts and potatoes have me slightly intrigued. I will try to look for them, even though its appearance scares me a little bit.

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    1. Yes, definitely out of this world looking and feeling! ~ellen

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    2. I just bought some in LA in china town. We are going to try them when we get back home. The lady said to boil them for 1 hour tho.. idk.. wish me luck

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    3. Hey Tiffany - thanks for letting us know where you got them and how'd the bat nuts turn out? ~ellen

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  2. I chipped a tooth so I suggest using a nutcracker!!

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    1. Ooouch! Notice to all, please do use a nutcracker!! I hope your tooth is okay Paizley! ~ellen

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  3. I live in Taiwan and have tried lingjiao 菱角 from the roadside trucks, which roast them on the spot. Unfortunately, I don't care for them. But they certainly are unique looking.

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    1. Hi Stephen - I've never tried roasted water caltrop. Sounds interesting. I also don't love these as a snack but super appreciate them for their very unique batman look. ~ellen

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  4. Tried them raw after being told by a chinese guy he usee to crack them open and eat raw as a kid. They taste and smell like fermented piss. Wouldn't recommend

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    1. Humm...never heard of anyone eating it raw. And what the heck does fermented piss taste like? Please do tell. ~ellen

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  5. Saved as a favorite, I love your site!

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  6. Anyone know where to get these in Portland, Oregon?

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    1. Your best bet to find caltrops is to check the asian grocery stores in China Town around the time of Chinese Mid Autumn Festival, usually in Sept ~ellen

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    2. I just bought some at asian market on 82nd and foster

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  7. I just bought a bag of these today! I am so excited.Thank you for the information.

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  8. Hey Barbara, glad to help! Aren't they just wonderful looking little things?! ~ellen

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  9. Do they have any healthy benefits

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  10. Water caltrops are beneficial for heart health, sound sleep, healthy hair and skin and has potassium which helps control blood pressure. All around pretty good for you! ~ellen

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  11. Used to eat these after some Chinese prayer rituals. Take quite the effort to crack but the reward is worth it when you see the white flesh. The rotten ones taste like crap but the goods ones are like a cross between yam texture with a chestnut flavour. Good memories!

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  12. Hum...how interesting, I did not realize that they were associated with prayer rituals. Do you remember which rituals? ~ellen

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  13. Are they powerful for driving away all types of of evil, energies spirit n good luck. Why eat it then confused.

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    1. It is because they look like bats and bats are considered lucky by the chinese. ~ellen

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  14. I grew up in Hong Kong and my mom used to buy them during the Mid Autumn Festival, she just boiled them and we cracked it open and eat it. It really doesn’t have much flavor at all, but you can dip it in some white sugar to add some flavor to eat them. It’s more for fun than worth to eat them, my mom used them for decoration for the festival.

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  15. Hey Rita - ooh! dipping in sugar is a great idea, I'm going to try it next year. Too bad Autumn moon is just past this year :( ~ellen

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  16. My father use to make a spinning toy with it by running a loop of string through both ends.

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  17. That is so amazing! How does that even work? I'm going to try it this year come Mid Autumn Festival when I can buy caltrops. Cool! ~ellen😛

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  18. I found one of these as a kid in the US and had no idea what it was, but it looked so neat that i kept it in my box of treasures. I think I still have it (twenty years later)! I was surprised when I stumbled on more of them in an Asian grocery store and looked them up. Thank you for your info on them!

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  19. Hey Abby, that's one neat-o story! Can't believe that you still have it after all that time! 😄

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