Konafa Nest with Quail Egg, Avocado & Lobster Salad

Crispy pastry "nests", delicate little quail eggs, spring colors in the lobster and avocado mousse, this recipe says Happy Easter like nothing does. It allows for as much creative freedom as you like or need. You can use small hen's eggs instead of quail eggs. I combined the eggs with a mild, bright green avocado mousse with chunks of fresh lobster. I used Omani lobster, generally available in Dubai. Prawn or crab will also be great here.

Konafa or kataifi (both occur in different spellings) is shredded fillo dough. Like fillo dough, it dries out quickly and needs to be handled with care. Keep under a damp cloth while you work.

(Recipe for 4)
12 hard boiled quail egg
a pinch of turmeric, dissolved in a tbsp water (for color, optional)
konafa dough
1 cooked lobster tail
1 large ripe avocado
fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp finely cut chives
salt/pepper to taste

Peel the eggs and toss in the turmeric water if you like your eggs to be yellow. Or use the eggs as the eggs white as they are.

For the nests: shape the konafa dough into nests. Keep the rest of the dough under a damp cloth to prevent it drying out. You are going to deep-fry the nests, but a word of warning: the strands "crunch up" quickly and you need to keep the shape fixed. To do so: press in a ladle-shaped sieve, and press down with a same shaped ladle (as if you were pushing your fist into your other cupped hand). Submerge in hot oil, crisp up (very fast) and drain on kitchen towel.

Chop the lobster tail in chunks. Mash the avocado (by hand) until a soft puree (you can make it as smooth or coarse as you prefer). Add lemon juice, chives and salt/pepper to taste. Add in the lobster chunks. Spoon mixed lobster-avocado in the base of a nest. Top with 3 quail eggs and serve as is, or with a side salad.

turmeric yellow quail eggs on green salad

You might also like the recipe for Crispy Konafah Egg with Mesclun