How to cook Mopani Worms (Masonja) and Pap

How to Cook Mopani Worms. (Masonja). These worms are quite yummy. Below, I'll be explaining their cooking procedure.

Mopane worms are the caterpillars of emperor moths. They live in the warmer portions of Southern Africa and eat primarily on mopane tree leaves. Delicious with an earthy and nut taste, this exquisite dish can also be savored dry as a snack. Or cooked in a stew.

Cooking Instructions:

• First, immerse the dried mopane worms in boiling water for approximately 2 hours. Then, remove them from the water and transfer them to a medium saucepan. Cover the mopane worms in boiling water and simmer gradually for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse and keep warm.
• Second, heat the oil in a frying pan and stir-fry the onion, garlic, black pepper, and curry powder until the onion softens.

• Third, cut the freshly peeled tomatoes into small cubes. Add them on top of your fried onions, stir, and cook the tomatoes for 5 to 7 minutes, or until ready.
• Fourth, you should mix any flavor of soup powder with the water in a small bowl. Add your soup mixture to the stew.
• Fifth, you must add the mopane worms and stir to mix. Simmer for about 6 to 12 minutes.
• Lastly, serve with pap.

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 cups dried mopane worms
• 2 or 3 cups of hot water
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 3 teaspoons of oil
• 1 big onion or 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 or 2 teaspoons of curry powder

• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 teaspoon of soup powder
• ½ cup of warm water
• salt to taste

To prepare a different dish, use peanut sauce instead of tomato and onion sauce. You can also eat with creamy spinach, or other vegetables.

To prepare peanut sauce use:

25 milliliters of ground peanuts

250 milliliters of water

In a small pot, cook pounded ground peanuts in water for 15 minutes until creamy. Stir the peanut sauce into the parboiled mopane worms, season with salt and spicy pepper and black pepper, to taste. Boil for around 10 minutes, adding little water if you want a less thick sauce.

How to cook pap to eat with Mopani Worms.

• Bring the water to a boil.
• Add salt (optional).
• Gradually add the maize meal, stirring with a wooden spoon.
• Cook for approximately 20 minutes over low heat, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon, until thoroughly cooked.
• Add butter to taste (optional).
• Stir until firm and heated through.
• Close the lid on the pot and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
• Serve.

How to Identify Mopani Worm in the Forest

Mature mopane worms are huge and strong moths with wings of about 120 mm. Wing colors ranges from fawn to green, brown, and red. White and black stripes separate the spots on their eyes on both the front and back wings. The orange eyespots on the hind wings are significantly larger than those on the front wings.

Male moths have feathery antennas that let them identify the presence of females. Larvae (caterpillars) are huge, reaching up to 100 mm in length and 10 mm in diameter. They are black in appearance and have spherical scales in unclear, alternating reddish, yellowish, and whitish bands. They are armed with small reddish or black spines that are covered in white hairs.

The adult caterpillars can fly, and males fly more easily because they do not have to carry eggs. Caterpillar's crawl to various parts of their host plant looking for leaf. They always change trees in search of the best and fresh leaf to eat.