Bat Soup
Bat soup is eaten in many countries in South-East Asia and Oceania, primarily in Indonesia (North Sulawesi) and the island nation of Palau.
The soup has gotten immense coverage in 2020, when bats were mistakenly linked to the coronavirus outbreak. A film with people eating bat soup in Palau was wrongly labelled as being filmed in Wuhan and that was all that was needed for it to become viral and to start the fake news frenzy.
Bats can transmit many viruses to humans, according to a few scientific reports, but there is no evidence to date that bats or bat soup was responsible for the novel coronavirus.
Going back to food and recipes, there are many bat soup recipes, depending on country and region. Below is a recipe shared with us by an Indonesian chef.
Bat Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large fruit bat whole, washed
- 1 large onion quartered
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger (galangal)
- 1-2 lime leaves (kaffir leaves)
- carrot or other vegetables (cleaned peeled and chopped)
- salt to taste
- white pepper to taste
- sugar to taste
- water
To serve:
- lime juice
- coconut milk unsweetened
- light soy sauce
Instructions
- Ass the bat to a pot and fill it with water to cover the bat. Add salt and the quartered onion and bring to pot to a boil. Then turn the heat down and simmer until the bat is tender and the skin comes apart easily (1 – 2 hours).
- After the bat has cooked, take it out and allow to cool until you can handle it and remove the skin and bones. Strain the broth into another large pot and set back on the heat.
- While the stock continues to simmer, add the lime leaves, ginger, carrots ( plus other vegetables) , ginger. Add the diced bat meat back in and cook everything until tender.
- Divide the bat soup into bowls and serve with coconut milk and light soy sauce to your liking. Also, don't forget to add some lime juice for an extra zingy taste!
- Serve it hot with rice and enjoy!
Notes
I live in America so I used two Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) instead of a fruit bat, but otherwise followed this recipe to the letter. There is an abundance of these creatures in my area so I was looking for creative ways to use them after getting bored of making lampshades from their wings. The flavor is very rich and reminiscent of armadillo. it’s a comforting meal for a summer evening. Mine was a little meat heavy so I might use 1 ½ bats next time instead of two. The recipe doesn’t say to season the flesh of the mammal but a little allspice worked well for me. Next time I may add some Cajun inspired flavors.