Kwek-kwek is the street term that refers to deep fried orange-coated quail eggs. The quail eggs are boiled before being deep-fried. It is a Philippine street food that can be seen sold along busy streets and intersections.
How to Eat Kwek-Kwek
These yummy mini eggs are best eaten with a dip of spicy vinegar. You can use a short skewer (this is called barbecue stick in the Philippines) or toothpick to skewer an egg and let it soak in a bowl of spicy vinegar. It is eaten without any side dishes although some will eat it with rice or with pancit (if it is meryenda time).
The recipe below will show you how to easily prepare it. It takes less than 30 minutes to cook and can be eaten as a snack. I enjoyed it better with a glass of ice cold soda.
Give this Kwek-Kwek recipe a try today!
How to Cook Orange Quail Egg Known as Kwek-Kwek
Ingredients
- 15 pieces quail eggs
- 4 cups water to boil eggs
- 1½ cup flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 cup annatto water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups cooking oil
Instructions
- Pour 4 cups water on a pot. Let boil.
- Add the quail eggs and boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Discard water and let the eggs cool down. Peel the shell off and then set aside.
- Meanwhile, make the batter by combining flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, ground black pepper, and salt. Mix well using a wire whisk.
- Pour annatto water in the mixture. Stir until all the ingredients are well blended.
- Submerge the boiled eggs to the mixture one-by-one.
- Heat the oil in a cooking pot. Once the oil gets hot, scoop a piece of egg from the bowl along with some orange mixture using a spoon. Gently slide the egg and mixture into the hot oil. Let the excess mixture drip on the egg. Deep fry in medium heat until texture of the orange coating gets a bit crispy (around 1 to 2 minutes). Remove from the pot using a kitchen strainer and place in a plate lined with paper towel. Perform this step until all the eggs are cooked.
- Serve with a spicy vinegar dip.
Video
Nutrition
Very helpful and very quick to view and read. Thank you and I truly appreciate if I can have more Filipino recipes to receive. I am learning more how to cook.
Thanks for the feedback.
Can you use canned quail eggs?
Hi Ann – you may and the result should still be ok. I’m not sure if you have access to fresh quail eggs, you may want to consider that option if you want your kwek-kwek to taste better.
There is a Filipino dish that’s basically the same as this but made with chicken eggs… imho fresh chicken eggs taste more like fresh quail eggs than canned quail eggs do (or taste better, at least!) If fresh quail eggs are unavailable, I’d be more inclined to get a dozen small or medium chicken eggs than go the canned quail egg route.