How to Cook Thai Duck Curry
Serves: 2
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients needed to make Thai Duck Curry:
- 4 duck legs, skinned and sliced along the joint
- 2 tsp light soft brown sugar
- 250 gm waxy new potatoes
- Two cans coconut milk, 400 ml each
- 2 tsp fresh lime juice
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- Fistful fresh cilantro leaves, for serving
- Crisp-fried shallots, for serving
For the curry paste:
- 6 large garlic cloves, peeled
- 25 gm fresh ginger, chopped
- 65 gm shallots, chopped
- 3 lemon grass stalks
- 3 hot red chilies, deseeded and chopped
- 3 blade mace
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- ¼ tsp white peppercorns
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- ½ tsp salt
Cooking instructions for Thai Duck Curry:
- Heat the coconut milk in a saucepan and drop in the duck legs.
- Cook them for an hour, uncovered, until the meat is cooked through and the milk thickens to half its original volume; remove from heat and keep it aside.
- For the curry paste, heat a skillet over moderate heat and throw in the whole spices to toast briskly until they give out a nice aroma.
- Throw them into a spice grinder and pulse them into a fine powder.
- Slice off the top 1/3 of the lemon grass and peel off its outer leaves.
- Chop its core into coarse slices and dump them into the fine powder,
- Add the rest of paste ingredients into the processor and pulse them into a smooth paste.
- Steam the potatoes in boiling salted water for about 12-15 minutes or until they soften.
- Drain them out through a colander and set aside until cool enough to handle.
- Carve out thick slices from the cooked potatoes and set aside.
- Once the duck is cooked through, drain them out into a plate and cool them slightly before separating the meat from the bones; reserve the cooking liquid.
- Heat a lashing of oil in a skillet and stir fry the curry paste for about 5 minutes before pouring in the reserved cooking liquid.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer and continue to cook likewise for a couple of minutes or until the sauce thickens.
- Whisk in the sugar, followed by the lime juice and a dash of seasonings until well combined.
- Drop the meat chunks as well as the potatoes into the simmering curry and stir well to mix coat well.
- Heat the curry through for another minute and pour it into a large serving bowl.
- Top it up with chopped cilantro as well as fried shallots and serve alongside steamed jasmine rice.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
