Stuffed quail with nsala sauce and uziza herb oil

  • 3-4
  • 1 hour 30 minutes plus time for the quail to brine overnight
Not yet rated

This beautiful quail dish from Joké Bakare is served with a creamy nsala sauce and fresh uziza herb oil. The recipe uses many of the traditional seasonings of ofe nsala (nsala soup, or white soup) - uziza leaves, prekese and aidan fruit - and each one is celebrated in Joké's own distinctive style. The quail requires deboning and brining overnight, so be sure to start the night before you want to eat.

First published in 2023

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Stuffed quail

Glaze

Uziza oil

Nsala sauce

  • 250g of white yam, grated
  • 250g of parsnip, grated
  • 500g of stock
  • 8g of ehuru
  • 8g of prekese (Aidan fruit)
  • 300g of white onion, thinly sliced
  • 20g of lemon juice
  • 10g of Cameroonian chilli
  • 1 tbsp of vegetable bouillon
  • 300g of extra-soft silken tofu
  • 150g of rapeseed oil, plus extra for cooking onion

Equipment

  • Thermomix

Method

1

Debone the quail, leaving only the wingtips and the leg bone so the quail can keep its shape. Lightly salt the quail, and leave it to brine overnight

2

The next day, mix all the glaze ingredients together

3

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4

4

Place all the ingredients for the uziza oil in a Thermomix and blend for 10 minutes at 50°C, speed 10. Strain the oil and set aside

5

Add some oil to a pan, then sweat the onion for 5-8 minutes. Mix in the the chicken thigh, parsley and offal

6

Put the mixture down the middle of the bird, but avoid packing it too tightly. Sew up the birds with butcher's string, then brush over the glaze. Roast for 25 mins. Once cooked through, set aside to rest before carving

7

To make the nsala sauce, add the yam, parsnips and half of the broth to a pan and cook for 10 mins

  • 250g of white yam, grated
  • 250g of parsnip, grated
  • 500g of stock
8

Toast the spices and add to the parsnip and yam mix. Cook for a further 5 mins

  • 8g of ehuru
  • 8g of prekese (Aidan fruit)
9

Gently sweat the sliced onion for 15mins, without it taking on colour

10

Add the parsnip mix and the onions, lemon juice, chilli and bouillon to a Thermomix. Blitz on speed 10 for 5 minutes, adding more bone broth as needed to get a smooth texture. Add the oil and tofu and blitz for a further 4 minutes. Pass through a chinois, then adjust the seasoning to taste

11

To serve, place a spoonful of the nsala sauce into a bowl. Top the sauce with the glazed quail, and dot around the uziza herb oil

First published in 2023

Nigerian-born Adejoké Bakare made the transition from avid home cook to restaurant owner in a matter of months when she won the Brixton Kitchen competition in 2019 and opened the first iteration of Chishuru. Since then, she’s fast built a reputation as one of London’s boldest chefs thanks to her unique style of West African cookery, influenced by the contrasting food traditions of her parents, and has been rewarded with a Michelin star at Chishuru.

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