I went to a Chinese restaurant nearby to buy a duck as I crave for roast duck. While waiting to order, I said hmm!!! It’s been a while I have not had curry. So, I change my plan, and left the restaurant. Phew!!! lucky there were 5 people ahead of me; giving me time to change my plan and save me some bucks.

My curry is spicy as I like spicy curry. I have added chilli powder and chilli oil that is something about me: love chilli especially chilli oil, thanks to my friend who think of me and gave me one bottle.

My curry taste delicious, not to creamy curry. Lychees seems to balance off spiciness, salty and sweetness of my duck red curry. Serve it with rice and vegetables also with a glass of white wine. Let’s cook!!!

Ingredients

2 duck breasts, skin scored
2 Maryland ducks, skin scored
salt and black pepper, seasoning
coriander, to garnish

CURRY PASTE

6 long fresh dried chillies
5 coriander seeds, pounded
5 white peppercorns, pounded
1 Tsp ground coriander
2 Tsp ground cumin
3 Tsp chilli powder
3 eschalots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cm piece ginger, chopped
1 lemongrass stalk, thinly sliced
½ bunch coriander roots, chopped
1 Tsp belachan
finely grated zest of 1 lime

CURRY SAUCE

350 ml coconut cream
250 ml coconut milk
6 Tbs fish sauce
3 Tbs brown sugar
400 ml can lychees, reserved juice
6 kafir leaves
2 Tsp chilli powder
200 ml beef stock
6 Tbs chillies oil (optional if can’t take too hot)

Method

Preheat oven to 200C. Pat duck breast skin dry with absorbent paper. Season and put in room temperature.

To make curry paste:

Deseed 2 long chillies, 2 chillies with seed; cut up half and place in a blender. Pound and dry fry peppercorns, coriander seeds and ground spices in a frying pan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add to blender with chillies and remaining ingredients. Process to form a smooth paste (I prefer a tiny bit crunchy), adding a little oil and add little water if necessary.

To cook duck:

Place duck, skin-side down, in a frying pan over low heat. Cook until skin is golden and crispy. Turn and cook for 5-7 minutes. Transfer to the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to rest wrap in foil to keep warm. Reserved the fats from ducks.

To prepare curry sauce:

Heat a wok over medium heat. Pour the reserved duck fat and add 2 tablespoons of the coconut cream. Cook for about 2 minutes or until it separates into oil and water. Allow the water to evaporate. Add curry paste. Cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes or until mixture is fragrant and soft.

Add back the warm ducks, followed by kafir leaves, chilli powder and chilli oil into the wok with fragrant paste. Stir to mix the paste into ducks for 10 minutes. This is to render the fat and cook the Maryland further as its thicker on the drumettes.

Then stir in coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, beef stock, lychees juice and remaining coconut cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer for about 25 -35 minutes. Stir in lychees and lime leaves. Simmer again for 5 minutes. Serve with rice, vegetables and a glass of wine. Enjoy!!!

Note: You can add rice noodles into curry instead of eating with rice. You can omit chili oil and use less chili if you can’t take too spicy. You can add pineapples instead of lychee.

https://helenscchin.com/2015/04/27/duck-red-curry-with-lychees/

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