Korean Marinated Quail Egg (Mayak Gyeran)

Mayak gyeran is a popular side dish from South Korea. It is translated as drug eggs because it’s simply so addictive.

One can never get enough of these delicious eggs and at the same time, also one shall never have too much of them.

But no worries, there are no drugs involved in this recipe!

Quail eggs are richer in nutrition value and richer in flavor than chicken eggs when compared by weight. 3–5 of these mini eggs roughly equate to the serving size of one chicken egg.

Many says that quail eggs are “bad” but in my opinion, the actual problem does not come from these eggs, the problem is what we called OVEREATING.

So don’t blame the quail!
Eat sensibly.

INGREDIENTS

15 quail eggs *use room temperature eggs, I always make them the same day of purchase

1 inch square kelp broth *dried kelp

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

spring onion/ scallion *sliced in thin slants

bird eye’s chili *I used 2 but you may reduce or omit

2 cloves chopped garlic

INSTRUCTIONS

1.Put eggs in the boiling water and let it cook for 6 minutes. You may add salt and vinegar in the boiling water for easier peeling.

2.Remove the eggs and immersed in ice-cold water for 10 minutes and peel them carefully.

3.Warm up about 160ml of water and kombu. Remove kombu as the water comes to a boiling point and simmer for 5 minutes with soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, sugar, garlic and chopped chili.

4.Add eggs and scallions and further simmer for 5 minutes on low heat. Swirl them around in the pot to coat the eggs with the marinade.

5.Turn off the heat and let it cool and store in an airtight container. It should keep up to a week in the refrigerator. Best to let it marinate overnight. May be eaten directly from the fridge or you may microwave it for less than 1 minute.

©Britt H.

Thank you for reading this.

This is a repost from my own writing portfolio. Previously published in 2022.