Chinese Five-Spice Quail Eggs with Cucumber Garlic Salad

Ingredients

• 18 large Quail eggs
• 2 cups Water
• 3 tbsp Rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce (low-sodium)
• 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 1 tsp Brown sugar (or sugar substitute equivalent)
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp Fresh ginger
• 1 medium Cucumber
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Neutral oil (canola/avocado)
• 1/4 tsp Black pepper
• 1/8 tsp Red chili flakes(optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Prep (20 minutes): Rinse quail eggs. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add eggs, and boil 4 minutes. Drain and cool under cold running water, then peel carefully.

2. 2

   Braised eggs (25 minutes): In the same pot, combine 2 cups water, soy sauce, rice vinegar (1 tbsp), Chinese five-spice, brown sugar, ginger, and black pepper. Add peeled quail eggs and simmer gently until the liquid reduces slightly and the eggs are well flavored, about 20–25 minutes.

3. 3

   Make cucumber-garlic salad: While eggs simmer, thinly slice cucumber. Toss with salt and let sit 5 minutes, then squeeze out excess moisture. Mince garlic and mix with remaining rice vinegar (2 tbsp) and neutral oil; optionally add chili flakes.

4. 4

   Finish and serve: Add cucumber to the garlic-vinegar dressing and toss. Serve braised five-spice quail eggs warm or at room temperature alongside the crunchy salad.