It is longsilog, the Filipino breakfast of longganiza (sausage), fried rice and egg. But there is nothing traditional about how the dish is prepped and served.
First, about the sausage meat. Why not just cook sausages the usual way? Because we used to buy the best tasting sausage in bulk, and there was the option of getting it stuffed in casing or minus the casing. We like cooking sausage meat in different ways (see more after the recipe) and pressing the meat out of the casing is just added work. Plus, the casing adds to the weight and since we just discard it, well, it’s really just a waste of money. So, we buy sausage meat, minus the casing, by weight.
Just how do we cook the sausage meat? In this recipe, it was just a matter of spreading the highly seasoned minced meat in a hot pan.
Because sausage meat is fatty, there is no need to oil the pan. Just leave the sausage meat to brown, stir and continue cooking until the meat is done, the color has deepened and there are bits that have turned crisp.
Second, the quail eggs. This dish was cooked just before quarantine was imposed in March of 2020, my younger daughter and I were in Chiang Mai a month earlier, and there was this street food that we enjoyed. Quail eggs fried in what I can only describe as a variant of takoyaki pan.
I did use a regular takoyaki pan to fry my quail eggs. If you don’t own one, just fry the eggs in a regular pan. But if you do have a takoyaki pan, remember that you need to coat those indentations with oil before cracking the quail eggs into them. How well done the eggs should be is up to you. I like the edges of the whites to turn brown and crisp.
Browned sausage meat and fried quail eggs rice bowl
Ingredients
- 500 grams sausage meat
- cooking oil
- 20 quail eggs
- 4 shallots thinly sliced
- 4 stalks scallions thinly sliced
- cooked rice to serve
Instructions
- Heat a frying pan and spread the sausage meat on the entire bottom. Cook over medium-high heat to brown the underside. Stir to break up lumps and continue cooking, stirring often, until well browned. Divide into four portions, set aside and keep hot.
- Using a piece of kitchen paper (or a pasty brush if you own one), lightly grease each hole of a takoyaki pan.
- Set the takoyaki pan on the stove over medium heat and crack a quail egg into each hole. Sprinkle with a little salt. Cook until set.
- Ladle cooked rice into four bowls. On top of the rice, arrange fried quail eggs on one side and spoon a fourth of the browned sausage meat on the other. Scatter sliced shallots and scallions in the middle. Serve immediately.
