1. Kwek Kwek (Filipino Battered Eggs)
-Kwek Kwek is a Filipino street food made up of boiled quail eggs that’s coated in a savory batter and deep fried until light and crispy. Served with a side of sauces and dips, this Filipino classic is both fun and delicious to eat!
What is Kwek Kwek?
-Kwek Kwek is one of the many varieties of street food that can be found in the Philippines. It’s categorized as a “tusok-tusok” streetfood, meaning to “poke” or to “pierce” with a skewer. Other street foods such as fish balls, squid balls, or grilled hotdogs can also be found under this umbrella term!
Ingredients for Kwek Kwek
Quail eggs: Quail eggs are basically mini chicken eggs and they taste almost exactly the same. Quail eggs are used for this recipe because they cook fast and they’re small enough to pierce into skewers.
Flour, cornstarch: The flour provides the base for our batter, and the cornstarch helps to make the resulting texture light and crispy.
Baking powder: This will add a slight “lift” to our batter, making it light and not overly dense when deep fried.
Annato/Atsuete powder: Annato is a natural food coloring that colors food orange or red (depending on the amount added). You can find packets of this being sold in most Asian groceries or Filipino stores. If you’re out of luck, feel free to substitute it wth a couple drops of orange food coloring!
Can I use regular eggs?
Yes, regular eggs are perfectly fine to use for this recipe.
In fact, Kwek Kwek’s chicken egg version is actually called “Tokneneng“, which uses the same exact batter and sauces!
Instructions
After 5 minutes, place the boiled eggs in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Once cooled, peel off the egg shells and set aside.
To prepare the wet batter, combine together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, anatto powder, salt, pepper, and water in a large bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined and you end up with a pancake-like batter consistency.
Lightly coat the peeled quail eggs with the 1/4 cup of flour (this will help the wet batter stick on to the egg’s surface).
Coat the quail eggs with the wet batter. Deep-fry for 1-2 minutes, or until the coating is light and crispy.
Pierce onto skewers and serve with spiced vinegar or fishball sauce.
Fishball Sauce
This homemade fishball sauce is the perfect dip for all your Filipino street foods. Pair this with fish balls, squid balls, and more!
What is fish ball sauce?
Fish ball sauce, commonly referred to as “Manong sauce” by locals (“Manong”, referring to an elderly man who usually sells street food) is one of the many universal dips used for fish balls, squid balls, kwek kwek, kikiam, and all other types of Filipino street foods.
It’s thickened with a cornstarch slurry (sometimes flour) so that it’s able to properly coat the food when dipped into. Flavor-wise, the sauce is both sweet and savory, due to the main ingredients of brown sugar and soy sauce.
Sometimes I even like to add one or two Thai chilies in the sauce for an extra layer of flavor and spice!
Ingredients
Soy sauce:
this will add that savory component to our sauce. For more authenticity, I’d suggest going for a popular Filipino brand, such as Datu Puti or Marca Piña.
Brown sugar:
you can replace this with regular white sugar if you happen to be looking for the next best substitute. You’ll want to adjust the sweetness of the sauce according to your tastes since it’s all up to personal preferences how sweet or savory you want your dip to be.
Garlic, shallots:
some people will oppose adding aromatics into this sauce, but I honestly think it adds a greater depth to the overall flavors of it. Most of the flavors from these aromatics will be released during the simmering stage, so don’t skip that step.
Vinegar:
I like to add a splash of vinegar into my fish ball sauce to add some brightness and acidity. This helps tremendously in to balance out those rich, savory flavors of the street food.
Instructions
In a sauce pot, combine together the water, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, shallots, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
Adding all the ingredients into the pot
Bring the mixture to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, pour in the cornstarch-water mixture and stir. Bring to a low boil and continue to heat the sauce until thickened to your desired consistency. Taste the sauce, and season to taste with more salt, pepper, or sugar, if desired.
Transfer to a separate bowl or container, let cool slightly
ENJOY!!!!!!!!!
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