Hello,
I can’t believe it’s been three years since we first started talking about it, but its finally here: Mum’s stuffed quail recipe. Mum and I have been trying to post this every year before Christmas, and every year, I have been failing to have it ready in time. This recipe is as special as they come. It usually makes an appearance in the first few meals that mum makes when we visit Kannur. When we went home the last time, and had to quarantine for 2 weeks, it was the very first of the many elaborate meals that we would find waiting for us at the top of the stairs while we were quarantining.
However, unlike many other special-occasion dishes, this one is laughably simple to make and just a few ingredients. Finding the quail is really the hardest part of this dish. In case quail is hard to come by where you live, you could also make it with spring chicken or poussin and it works just as well. I know raisins in a spicy dish is a divisive subject, but trust us on this and don’t skip it. It adds little bursts of sweetness in a sea of salty, savoury goodness.
The spring chicken version
The quail is stuffed with fried quail eggs, and while you could skip this, I think it makes the dish feel fancier. And it goes without saying, we could all use a little extra fancy in our lives this year.
Recipe: Fried & Stuffed Chilli Quail
Ingredients
2 quails, cleaned
1 medium-sized onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chilli paste*
4 boiled quail eggs
1/4 cups raisins, soaked in water for 15 minutes
1/4 cup coconut oil
Chilli paste
1/2 cup kashmiri chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 cup water
Pinch of salt
Method
To make the chilli paste, add the chilli powder, turmeric, salt and water to a blender and blitz till you have a paste.
Coat the quails with the chilli paste (leaving aside a little bit to coat the eggs), a little extra salt, and pressure cook with 1/2 cup of water for two whistles.
Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp of coconut oil. On a medium-low flame, cook the onions till soft and slightly browned. Add the raisins to this and stir for a minute or two and set aside.
Coat the boiled eggs in the remaining chilli paste, and gently fry in the same pan, adding a little more coconut oil if needed. Set this aside.
Heat a little more coconut oil, and transfer the quail from the cooker to the pan (save the liquid it is cooked in for the next step). Cook on medium-low, turning it occasionally until the quail is fried and has a delicious deep red coating.
Reduce the liquid from cooking the quail until it is thick, and add the onions and raisin mixture to this. Cook for a minute or two.
To assemble, make a bed of the onion mixture saving a little to stuff inside to quail, and lay the quail on top. Carefully stuff each quail cavity with the reserved onion and raisin mixture and the fried eggs.
Serve hot.