Jif Photo Journal

Ayie

This street food can be seen almost all over Philippines. Who wouldn't love the crispy fried battered egg? Hubs love this and he's been missing to eat some so I decided to make him a good stick of kwek-kwek one time. Quail eggs here can be bought 10pcs or a dozen a $1. For tiny little eggs, I find that quite pricey. I happened to see some in the farmer's market so I made sure I grabbed some for our afternoon merienda. I didn't have any food coloring so I improvised. Instead of buying food color I used powdered cheddar cheese to color the flour, that way it also added much flavor to the batter. I think I made 2 sticks, one for me and one for hubs of course. Baby was napping so we enjoyed everything, he was too young to have eggs that time too. For the sauce, I kind of cheated. I had leftover katsu sauce so not to waste, used it.

Kwek-kwek is for quail eggs and for chicken eggs, it's called tokneneng. Why? I honestly don't know how it came to be. Perhaps I should research about it. Here's a sample recipe in case you want to try making your very own. Any kind of sauce can be used, preferably sour or sweet and sour. Some use vinegar with chopped onions and garlic, sweet and sour sauce or soy sauce with lemon juice. Be creative and use whichever suits your taste.

Ingredients (good for 4)

1 dozen eggs, choose quail or chicken
cornflour for coating
bamboo skewer
oil for deep frying
Batter:
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
red and yellow food colouring
Sauce:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
4 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoon soy sauce

Prep: 15 mins | Cook: 15 mins

1. Boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Remove from pot and let cool then peel the shells.

2. Prepare the batter by putting a few drops of red and yellow food colouring into the water to get a deep orange colour. Add salt and pepper to the flour. Pour in the water mixture into the bowl of flour and mix well until there are no lumps.

3. Heat oil in wok until hot. Dredge the peeled eggs into the cornflour then drop them into the batter so it's fully covered. Then I use the skewer to poke the eggs to drop them into the hot oil and deep fry until the batter is crispy. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

4. To make the sauce: Mix all the ingredients into a saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Stir and let cool.

5. Serve the eggs with a side of dipping sauce.