Bring the street food life back at your home, by making this delicious Homemade Kwek Kwek (Batter-covered Fried Quail Eggs)! Who would’ve thought that this famous afternoon munchies we eat along the streets after a busy day can be easily made at home?
So learn how to make this childhood favorite now by trying the recipe below! There are tips, as well as some trivia, which may help you along the way.
Why is it Called Kwek Kwek?
The kwek kwek is a Filipino street food that is made using quail eggs covered in an orange batter which is then dipped in either a sweet and spicy sauce or vinegar sauce. The term kwek kwek is actually derived from how the ducks sound, since the traditional ingredient used for this egg snack are duck eggs.
Eventually quail eggs used for kwek-kwek also become popular.
Kwek kwek is actually a variation of the tokneneng or tukneneng, which is the same type of Filipino street food, except that it uses chicken eggs.
Why is Kwek Kwek Orange?
The kwek kwek batter contains an ingredient called annatto powder, a common condiment used to give a vibrant orange color to food. The orange color gives this street food additional visual appeal and make it more appetizing to eat.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Quail Eggs
Quail eggs are small nutrient-packed eggs from farmed birds called quails or pugo. This type of eggs are less common than chicken or duck eggs and are usually sold hard boiled with shell or as kwek kwek.
Annatto Powder
As mentioned earlier, our main natural food color would come from annatto. We will be using a powdered form for ease of use.
Aside from the above-mentioned ingredients, you will also need flour, cornstarch, salt, black pepper, and cooking oil for frying. If you are filling up your pantry, here’s a handy shopping guide:
Equipment You’ll Need
- Deep Fryer/ Frying Pan- Kwek kwek are traditionally deep-fried and you will be needing a deep fryer or deep frying pan to accommodate enough cooking oil. The size doesn’t have to be large since you will be cooking in batches.
- Cooking pot- You will also need a cooking pot or a deep pan or casserole to hard boil the quail eggs you will use.
In need of kitchen tools and equipment? Read this before you buy:
How to Make Kwek Kwek
Making the kwek kwek is a straightforward task once you have all of the ingredients prepared in the kitchen.
To start with making the kwek kwek. All you have to do is to mix all of your ingredients in a mixing bowl. This recipe has the most common spices and seasonings used for flavoring, but you can add some other seasonings according to your liking.
So once you’re done with adding the flavoring ingredients, all that’s left to do is to dredge each piece of the hard-boiled quail egg in the batter, and deep fry them.
Boiling the Quail Eggs
Of course, it is important to have a well hard-boiled quail egg, so if in case you don’t know how to do this, here’s how:
- Pour in enough water to cover the quail eggs in a cooking pot and bring it to a boil.
- Cook the quail eggs for about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a plate and then allow it to cool. You may use ice water and pour it in the plate to speed up the process.
- Crack the shell gently and then peel off the remaining pieces of the shell.
Cooking Tips
- For this recipe, we used a natural food coloring which is the annatto powder, if you prefer it that way. Another choice of ingredient you can use instead of that is an orange food coloring. This is the more common way of giving the kwek kwek that hue especially for the street vendors.
- If you have some extra time of preparation, you can leave the batter to rest for a couple of hours. This will give the kwek kwek a better overall texture once you eat it, but there is no notable difference when it comes to the taste, so it is purely preferential.
- Once you have the battered quail eggs ready, make sure that they are completely submerged in the oil when you deep fry it. Aside from making the task easier and faster, it will give a sure delicious taste since you know that all of the parts of the kwek kwek is cooked.
- When draining the excess oil, it is better to put it in a wire rack and let the oil drip naturally, instead of drying the oil with paper towels as this may give the kwek kwek an unpleasant texture because the heat will quickly dissipate.
- It is a good idea to prepare a dip for the kwek kwek, some suggestions for the dips are similar to what we use in other street food such as fish balls or kikiam, you can check it out here.
How to Serve Kwek Kwek
Kwek Kwek is usually served as a quick street food snack. It is usually served warm or at room temperature. It is usually served in a vinegar dip with onions and cucumber bits. But, you can also use regular fish ball sauce for this.
How to Store Kwek Kwek
To store kwek kwek, transfer into a clean food container with lid and refrigerate up to 3 days. However, doing this will make the coating soggy even when reheated. This is why we recommend that you store the quail eggs and batter separately and fry as needed. Shelled quail eggs is good in the refrigerator for 7 days and the batter is good for 5 hours.
Other Filipino Street Food Recipes
- 3-Ingredient Kamote Buchi (Kamoteng Butsi) Recipe
- Easy Carioca With Caramel Coating Recipe
- Filipino Hotdog Twister Recipe
For a quick reference about this recipe, see the recipe table below:
Homemade Kwek Kwek Recipe
Equipment
- Frying Pan
- Cooking Pot
Ingredients
- 18 pcs quail eggs (itlog ng pugo), hard-boiled and peeled
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp annatto powder, diluted in warm water
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 cups cooking oil, for frying
Instructions
- In a bowl, add in the flour, salt and pepper, and diluted annatto powder. Mix until well-incorporated.
- Dredge the hard-boiled quail eggs in cornstarch and then add into the bowl. Coat the eggs with the mixture.
- In a frying pan, pour in and heat the cooking oil over medium heat (175 C or 347 F).
- Add in the quail eggs. Deep fry for 2 to 4 minutes or until golden brown.
- Transfer to a serving plate or serving tray. Serve with vinegar dip and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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thank you so much sa recipe