Tea and Spice Smoked Quail with Pickled Cucumber and Ginger

Name: Tea and Spice Smoked Quail with Pickled Cucumber and Ginger
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons purple basil leaves, finely sliced; 2 red radish, cut into julienne; 24 small radicchio leaves; 1 tablespoon oolong tea leaves; 2 small eggplants, smoked, peeled and sliced; 2 continental cucumbers; 1 tablespoon finely diced red onion; 2 tablespoons Pickled Ginger, cut into julienne; 6 large quails; 1 teaspoon five-spice powder; 1 teaspoon sea salt; ½ teaspoon sichuan peppercorns, roasted and ground; 60 ml light soy sauce; 2 small cloves garlic, finely sliced; 2 red bird’s-eye chillies, chopped; 100 ml vegetable oil; 150 ml sugar syrup; 100 ml cider vinegar; 2 tablespoons jasmine rice; 2 pieces dried tangerine peel, broken up; zest of 1 orange; 1 tablespoon jasmine tea; 3 pieces cassia bark; 2 teaspoons sichuan peppercorns; 3 whole star anise; 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Paramount Cooking

By Christine Manfield

Published 1995

About

The smoking mixture used in this recipe imparts wonderful aromas to the meat but the kitchen tends to reek afterwards, so keep the window open and the fan on! The quantity given here is sufficient for two ‘smokes’ and the mixture seems to keep forever.

Ingredients

6 large quails
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon

Oceania
Australia

Method

Clean the quails and, using a sharp knife, split each one open down the backbone. Flatten the quails and arrange on a tray, skin-side up.
Mix together the five-spice powder, sea salt and ground sichuan pepper. Sprinkle this mixture over the quails, cover and cure for 3 hours in the refrigerator. Allow the quails to come back to room temperature before smoking, oth