Street food time!

A while back, I was watching a vlogger roaming around manila and he sampled a few streets food. One that caught my attention was yellow looking balls on skewer. I learned that it’s called Kwek-Kwek and it is made using quail eggs. That snacks reminds me of this meatball style that we have filled with quail eggs. The difference is that our meatball isn't fried.

And just so the other day I happen to see a dozen of quail egg for sale. I got some of it and thought about either making Korean banchan from quail egg or Kwek Kwek.

From what I learned, apparently other than kwek-kwek there's something called tusok-tusok(assorted frozen fried food) which often consist of fish balls, squid balls and kikiam. I also saw sausages on some of the vlogs too. So, I suppose it's really just assorted frozen food?

More of the Tusok-Tusok list can be found here: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/the-ultimate-guide-to-filipino-street-food

Since I don't know how Kwek-Kwek was made I looked up recipes online. There were dozens with similar recipe but I am trying the one with seemingly most authentic and is localized.

To achieve the yellow color, we have to use food coloring. I use orange instead of yellow since orange seems more fitting and looks just like most of the Kwek-kwek I've seen all over the vlogs.

Following that recipe with slight modification, I finally made it!

First you have to boil the quail eggs for about 3-4 minutes . Strain and peel them.

To make the batter you need 4 tbspn of flour for about 12 quail eggs. 1tsp baking powder, 2 tbsp cornstarch and finally a bit of orange/yellow food coloring. Add water until it reaches a gooey consistency.

Next you have to coat the peeled quail eggs with corn starch. Then dip and coat it with the batter. After that, fry it until it turns golden brown.

I got my mom to try it 😄

Tusok tusok reminds me of this bamboo skewers and basically in Indonesia we have this word, "tusuk" which has several meaning but usually in terms of food is considered for as skewer but in other conditions, it could mean to pierce or to stab.

Dipping sauce (Manong's sauce)

The dipping sauce somehow is called Manong’s Sauce. I am not sure if it’s a name of a person but the dipping was also easy to make. I followed the recipe from this guy on shorts. It’s basically corn starch, water, garlic, some chili until it’s thickened and soy sauce. In this sauce, I was using sweet soy sauce just so I don’t use extra sugar on it.

From vlogs that I saw and shorts too, these things are served on a plastic water cup. It’s street food afterall and it isn’t really meant to be healthy. So, to replicate the experience I was also using plastic water cup.

My mom tried kwek-kwek and all the assorted fish balls I fried. She loves it. We decided to make it when more guest would come since it’s something new. When I uploaded it to my personal whatsapp status, my friend even said it’s unique and wondered if I bought it from a street food vendor.

So, can anyone tell me what is the dipping sauce and why some people call it Manong’s sauce?