Quails with Thyme and Lentils

November 16, 2010
My quail is sexily perched on top of the mash potatoes... fork is to indicate that it is Quail....
Having quails for lunch or dinner was a luxury ...  those days... and I guess it still is... There aren't a lot of restaurants in Malaysia that served quails (I stand to be corrected here...).

My first taste of quails was at one of the restaurant in Bagan Serai ~ North of Malaysia (in the state of Perak)... Quails were seasoned with tumeric, salt and deep fried the whole bird... Quail is not like chicken... it has less meat... hence deep frying makes it chewy... and you have to have a good set of teeth to gnaw through to the bones  ...


I chanced on these little babies... in the freezer section ... They aren't cheap little darlings... A pack of 6 quails cost me dearly... .. shh... I am not telling the cost as Mr H might be reading this ...

Based on my previous experience of gnawing and gnashing the quails... I decided not to deep fry !!!
I cassoulet-ed (pardon my French...) with lentils...hoping that the meat will not be too dry...

Well... the meat and sauce were yummy..yay!!! but the kids weren't too keen on quails... they kept thinking

'Oh... those Poor little Birds'... 
hmmm... it looks like my blog will not be having quails to grace its pages... all good ~ I will put up 'Twitter' and we can still hear a chirping bird ....
  • 6 quails
  • 1 can brown lentils- drained and washed
  • 1 onion - chopped
  • 2 garlics - chopped
  • 2 sprigs of thyme
  • 3 pieces of rashers - diced
  • 500 ml water
  • 1 chicken stock (cube)
  • 3 tablespoon flour
  • salt
  • 30g butter plus another 30g butter
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
Pre heat oven to 200C.
Washed and pat dry quails. Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut through the back bone. Place flour and quails in a plastic bag, and shake to coat the birds. Shake off excess flour.

Heat up frying pan with olive oil and 30g butter. Pan fry the quails until slightly browned. Put aside. Wipe the pan off the oil. Using the same pan, heat up the butter, and saute the onion, garlic, thyme and rashers for few minutes (or until onion is translucent)... Add the lentils with water and chicken stock. Leave it to simmer for 5 minutes.

Return the birds to the simmering lentils... and bring to a quick boil. Transfer the whole dish to an ovenproof dish and bake for 20 minutes...
Serve with Mash potatoes or Rolls and green beans

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