I {heart} Quail Eggs

Quail eggs are fabulous. One of my favorite meals here is Chinese Hot Pot: bubbling hot, spicy broth loaded with veggies, thin-shaved lamb's meat, and hard-boiled quail eggs. The little bite-sized eggs bob around in the broth, soaking up all of the spicy flavor, and burst in your mouth with lava-hot, yolky goodness. It's heaven. So when I came across a recipe for Doro Wat that called for whole hard-boiled chicken eggs, I knew quail eggs would be an even better fit. 

Doro Wat is an Ethiopian dish utilizing a few simple ingredients and spices that result in a flavorful, aromatic stew. This particular version is made in a slow-cooker, which of course means that the mouth-watering smell will permeate your whole house, teasing you relentlessly for hours. Is it worth the wait? Absolutely! Sopped up with hunks of chewy naan, this stew is the perfect pick-me-up at the end of a long day. I'll be making this one again!

In case you're interested, here's the recipe I followed:

Doro Wat

30ml/2T vegetable oil

2 large onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2.5cm/1in piece peeled and finely chopped fresh root ginger

175ml/¾ c. chicken or vegetable stock

400g/14oz. can chopped tomatoes (I used fresh chopped tomatoes)

1T tomato paste

seeds from 5 cardamom pods

2.5ml/½ tsp. ground turmeric

large pinch of ground cinnamon

large pinch of ground cloves

large pinch of grated nutmeg

4 chicken breasts

4 hard-boiled eggs (I used 2 dozen hard-boiled quail eggs)

cayenne pepper or hot paprika, to taste

salt and ground black pepper

roughly chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) and onion rings, to garnish

flatbread or rice to serve

1)      Heat oil in large skillet; brown chicken. Remove chicken and place in slow cooker.

2)      Add onions to skillet and cook for 10 minutes or until softened, adding more oil if necessary. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 1-2 minutes.

3)      Add stock , chopped tomatoes and tomato paste to onion mixture. Bring to the boil and cook, stirring frequently, 10 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

4)      Stir in cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Pour onion mixture over chicken in slow cooker.

5)      Cover with lid and cook on high 3 hours. Peel eggs; pierce a few times with fork or fine skewer. Add to sauce and cook 30-45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Season to taste with cayenne pepper or hot paprika. Garnish with coriander and onion rings; serve with flatbread or rice.