This dish is surprisingly Chinese in flavour. The coke creates a delicious caramelly sweet and sour note.
By Tania Cusack
Quails, they are rather delicious. Seems people avoid them a bit because they have lots of bones and I suppose some people may not have cooked them before. Butterflied with only the leg bones remaining, they are no harder to cook than chicken. 
They are very quick cooking and have a delicate gamey taste. Support your local butcher and ask them to order them in for you. The recipe for these Coca Cola quail was inspired by “Have you Eaten” by Billy Law. I was quite surprised to see a recipe using Coca Cola, but after a quick search of the Internet I learned that the use of Coca Cola, lemonade and even Fanta are quite common, so I have re-created this unusual and surprisingly tasty recipe. I have used Quails for an elegant and quite fat free result but you can use drumsticks, chicken fillet, or even Spatchcock they will all taste delicious.
PrintCoca Cola Quail Recipe
- Total Time: 12 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Despite containing all of the things I usually avoid, this dish is deliciously Chinese in flavour. The coke creates a caramelly sweet and sour note, just try it.
Ingredients
- 1x packet of Game Farm Quail ( 6 ) boned
- ( or 500gm of chicken, 6 drumsticks or 4 butterflied Spatchcocks)
- 100ml peanut oil
- 4 Tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon of finely grated ginger
- 1 small onion sliced
- 2 cloves of crushed garlic
- 4 Tablespoons of tomato sauce
- 300 ml coke ( 1 small bottle)
- 200 gm snow peas
- Extras: 1 sliced large red chilli, 1 cup coriander leaves and 1 handful of cashews for crunch
Instructions
- Put the Quails (or other) into a shallow bowl and pour over the soy sauce and the ginger and let them marinate as long as possible (10 minutes to overnight)
- Heat a wok or a large fry pan and add oil.
- When very hot, add the Quails skin side down searing and browning them, reserving the marinade.
- When browned, turn the Quails over and add the onion and garlic. Saute till just fragrant and without browning the garlic, then add the tomato sauce the coca cola and let simmer on low with the lid on until it comes to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove the Quail onto a plate and reduce the liquid by half.
- Add the Quail back to the pan with the snowpeas and, put the lid on leaving on the heat till the snow peas are still crunchy but lightly steamed.
- Add cashews and serve with the sliced chilli and coriander.
- These is lovely with plain rice or quinoa.
- Prep Time: 12 hours
- Cook Time: 15 mins
Coca Cola Quail Recipe