Asian Sweet and Savoury Quail




Asian Sweet and Savoury Quail

 
Quail is the smallest poultry we can find in the supermarket. Normally stuffed as it is really not much to eat if we are not careful with the side dish. I didn't stuff my quails but chose to serve with potato puree and some mushrooms. Trying to consume less meat, more vegetables.

This is my first ever quail dish and I am very pleased with it. Even MIL licked her fingers :P very happy to see that..hahah.. you see, French are very carefull with their table manner even at home. MIL is from such a generations where table etiquette is everything.. here's a few example:   never place your elbow/elbows on the table, napkins are always.. i repeat always place on your lap, not on the table, do not leave the table until everyone finished their meal... oh! the list goes on that it deserve another post :)

So here's my quail, light and succulent with a very nice sweet and savoury sauce.



Asian sweet and savoury quail


Recipe:

 

6                         Quails

3 tsp                    Five spice powder

20- 25 pcs           Dried apricots (whole)

1 cup                   Fresh green grapes (skinned and seeded)

4                          Shallots (peeled and cut in half)

1 medium             Onion (minced)

3 large gloves       Garlic (whole and bruised)

1 cup                   White wine ( semi dry)

Here's the method:


1. First rub your quails all over with some cooking oil then season with salt and pepper and marinate with the five spice powder at least 30min so that the quail have time to absorb all the flavour of the spice. Set a side.
2. In a baking dish, pour a table spoon of oil in it then put in your shallots, garlics, onions, apricots and grapes. Give it a shake to coat the oil and season. Add in two table spoon of water, then arrange the quails nicely on top.
3. Bake them in a 200C pre-heated oven for 15mins.
4. Pull out the dish and pour in the white wine. Give it a good scrap to make sure it doesn't burn at the bottom of the baking dish as well as to scrap up all the brown bits.
5. Turn the birds to coat them with the juice. Bake for another 15-20 mins.

Serve with some sauté mushroom with garlics and potato purée.

Sharing this with Weekend potluck #35, This week's craving,  Munibbah Malaysian Monday hasted by 3 Hungry tummies 



Chinese bake pork

This is a quick, simple and easy one-pot pork dish. Good for those who have no time to cook. I usually cook a lot, eat half and mince the rest to make Chinese steam bun stuffing which you can find in any Chinese dim sum menu. Or if it is pork belly, I will wrap it in pie pastry and bake. Et voila! another dim sum dish :)



Ingredients:

4  1-inch thick Pork chop (with some fat in between) / pork belly

4 tomatoes chopped

2 carrots wedged

1 onion wedged

1 head of garlic (bruised and skin-on)

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp of salted soy bean (mashed)- Yeo's is a good brand which any Asian grocery carry
• 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (optional)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 4 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

Method:

1. In a bowl mix soy bean, salt, pepper, ketchup, light soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine. Set aside.
2. Marinate your pork with the mixture above.
3. Place your carrots at the bottom if your baking dish, then layer your pork on top of the carrots.
4. Next, place onions and garlic on top of the pork.
5. Sprinkle sesame oil all over the dish.
6. Bake at 220C for an hour. It might appear to be watery at first but it would reduce. 
7. Put on the grill 10 min before to grill the pork on all side. This will give it a good caramel colour as well as to reduce the sauce further.

Note:
If you don't have ketchup at home, you can replace it with 2 tbsp of tomato paste, 1 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of sugar.
If you are using pork ribs, you might have to increase the sauce and baking time.

This dish is best eat with plain rice and some fresh lettuce leaves for the extra crunch. My french family gave it a 3 thumbs up :)
Hope you like it as much as we like it!   
Bon Appétit