Acar Timun Dengan Telur Puyuh, Spicy Pickled Vegetables With Quail Eggs

This is a wonderful vegetarian dish that I made to go with ayam masak kecap the previous night. Most Malaysians and Singaporeans should be quite familiar with one or more version of this pickled vegetables dish and this is one that I am partial to, it must be the quail eggs! This colourful dish is very addictive so do make a larger batch. You may serve it straight away or let it matures in sterilised jars for a few days.

P.S Perfect as a side dish for nasi lemak and it is wonderful to serve this with some prawn crackers.

serves 4 as part of a Malaysian meal

you'll need;

1 telegraph cucumber, peeled, seeded and thickly sliced at 3cm lengths

2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced at 3cm lengths

100 g of green/french beans, sliced at an angle to match the other two vegetables

20 quail eggs, hard boiled*

3 tbs of toasted sesame seeds

6 bird chillies, sliced lengthwise (optional)

6 tbs of white vinegar

5 tbs of sugar

salt to taste

* add a 2 tbs of white vinegar to boiling water for cooking the eggs, this will make peeling the eggs a whole lot easier.

for the spice paste;

5 shallots, chopped

6 long red chillies, chopped

15 candlenuts (macadamia nuts or brazilnuts are good substitute)

6 garlic cloves, chopped

5 cm piece of ginger, chopped

2 cm piece of turmeric or 3 tsp of turmeric powder

Blend everything till you get a rough paste

Shell the quail eggs and set aside.

Blanch green bean and set aside. Sprinkle 1 tbs of salt onto sliced cucumbers and carrots and leave for 15 minutes then squeeze out as much water as you can, set aside

Fry spice paste with peanut oil til oil separates. Add sugar and vinegar and mix well.

Add quail eggs and stir fry for a minute follow by the green beans.

Next add sliced cucumbers and carrots and warm through. Finally in go the sesame seeds and check for seasonings.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.