How to Cook Tokneneng and Kwek-kwek
Tokneneng is a popular Filipino street food featuring hard-boiled chicken or duck eggs coated in a crispy, bright orange batter and deep-fried to perfection.
Servings: 1 dozen
Calories: 278kcal
Ingredients
- 18 to 20 pcs chicken eggs or native duck itik eggs (for Tokneneng) or 3 dozen of quail eggs (for Kwek-kwek)
- 6 Tbsp. cornstarch
- cooking oil for deep frying
For the batter:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2 1/4 cups water
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
- orange food coloring
For the dipping sauce:
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 pc red onion chopped finely
- 1 pc siling labuyo or chili pepper optional
Instructions
How to cook tokneneng or kwek kwek:
- Boil the eggs in water for 10 to 15 minutes and add a little salt. Don't cover the pot while cooking the eggs to avoid cracks on the shells. Drain the eggs and put tap water to cool.
- Peel the eggs and coat with cornstarch. Set aside.
- To make the batter; in a bowl, mix the flour, salt, pepper and water.
- Mix the batter using a fork or an electric hand mixer and mix until all the lumps disappear.
- While mixing, add a few drops of food coloring if you are using liquid coloring or if powdered, start with a small amount until the desired orange color is achieved.
- In a deep frying pan, heat enough oil to deep fry the eggs. Put the eggs in the batter and use a spoon to scoop the eggs from the batter then put it in hot oil one by one.
- Don't overcrowd the pan with eggs. 3 to 4 eggs per batch is enough to avoid the battered eggs from sticking with each other.
- Fry until the batter is crispy and remove from pan using a slotted spoon. Drain with paper towels or use a strainer to drain excess oil. Serve hot with dipping sauce.
- To make the dipping sauce; just combine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, onions, water and chili. Mix very well until all the sugar is dissolved.