Vietnamese Ginger-Braised Quail
This recipe uses a time-honored technique to slow-cook birds with tons of flavor
Braised meat is a quintessential part of Vietnamese home cooking. You won’t see these dishes in Vietnamese restaurants; instead, they are considered common knowledge and are passed down through family members.
Usually braised in a clay pot, the meat is essentially cooked in some variation of sugar, fish sauce, and black pepper. From fowl to pork to fish, you can braise just about any meat this way. However, the cooking time and ingredients vary. My favorites growing up were pork belly and, oddly, canned tuna, which my mom and I enjoyed over plain rice porridge.
Because the meat is so heavily spiced, you don’t have to make a lot of it; it’s understood that this meat isn’t to be eaten alone. It’s so salty, in fact, that it must be eaten with white rice to balance the strong flavors and make the meal more filling. It’s a good way for families to stretch whatever protein they can afford or in this case, have in their freezer.
Vietnamese Ginger-Braised Quail
Ingredients
- 5-6 whole quail skin on
- 1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- ¼ tsp black pepper cracked
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp Sambal Oelek ground chili paste
- 2 inches ginger peeled and julienned
- 1 medium shallot minced
- 3 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 can Coco Rico soda or coconut juice
- Sliced green onion for garnish
- 1 bird's eye chili optional
- 4 servings jasmine white rice cooked
- Sliced cucumber
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the quail, chicken bouillon, sugar, fish sauce, black pepper, dark soy sauce, and sambal oelek chili paste. Evenly coat the quail with the mixture. Allow the mix to sit on the counter while you prep the garlic, ginger, and shallot.
- In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan with a lid or a Vietnamese clay pot, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and ginger and sauté until the shallot becomes soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add the quail and all of the marinade liquid to the pan. Stir to evenly distribute the aromatics. Add enough Coco Rico soda to nearly cover the quail. Bring it to a low boil, then turn the heat down to allow the liquids to simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid and allow the cooking liquid to reduce by half to form a sauce; this could take an hour. Occasionally turn the quail in the sauce so the exposed meat doesn’t dry out. When the sauce has reduced, garnish the dish with sliced green onion and sliced bird’s eye chili if desired; these chilies are spicy, so be careful. Serve the sauce-coated quail with warm jasmine white rice and sliced cucumber.
Nutrition
