Them: "I can't eat quail."
Me: "Why not?"
Them: "They're just so little and cute. I feel sorry for them. Poor things. It'd be like eating a budgie."
Me: " Only if that budgie was full breasted and delicious. Like Salma Hayek."
There is a part of me that finds the eating of meat barbaric. Animals are, after all, beautiful and life is precious, urges my inner vegetarian. Then the ancient Greek part of me comes along and tells her to leave. Really loudly. It also shouts its the animals faults for being so tasty.
And the cuter the animal, the tastier they are. Consider lamb. Quail. Whitebait. Giving credence to my theory of the cute/scrumptious correlation.
As I explained to my deranged friend, quail are in fact fully grown when we eat them. They are adults and have led a full life. Think of them as Bonsai Chickens.
The following recipe is adapted from a recipe by Kenji Ito, owner of my favourite Japanese restaurant in Adelaide, Kenji. The food there is exquisite and borders on art.
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| Yeah baby. |
Tatsuta Quail or Bonsai Chicken
4 Quails – butterflied and cut into quarters
Marinade
1tsp soy sauce
1tsp mirin
½ tsp sake
1tsp sesame oil
1 tsp grated ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
Pinch of dried chili
½ tsp sugar
Dressing
½ red onion, finely sliced
2 really good tomatoes, diced
35ml sesame oil
90ml soy sauce
salt, pepper
Lemon juice
1tbs sesame seeds, toasted
For Frying
Vegetable oil
3tbs cornflour
2 egg whites
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| Ready for their marinade bath. |
Combine all the marinade ingredients and add the quail pieces. Mix it up and rub the marinade over each piece. Leave to steep for at least 20 minutes.
When you’re ready to cook, take the quail out of the marinade and dry them off.
While the quail are marinating, make the ‘dressing’ (though I found I prefer to serve this on the side, rather than over the quail, which tends to take away the crunchiness.)
Mix the onion, tomato, oil, soy, seasoning and lemon juice to taste. Scatter over the cooled sesame seeds.
Heat the oil to 170°C. Turn on the oven to 180°C.
Whisk the cornflour into the egg whites. Dip in each piece of quail and coat with the batter.
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| It's not an anal probe, it's a thermometer. |
Fry the quail pieces in batches in the oil for 10 to 12 minutes. Turn them carefully and when they’re done, remove them, place them on a tray and pop them in the oven while you cook the rest.
Serve with the dressing tossed with some mixed Asian salad greens, lemon slices and a dollop of Japanese QP mayonnaise.
HAI!
