Spicy duck with hot orange sauce
I only started to eat duck fairly recently and I’ve often wished I could cook it myself. Last night I bit the bullet. I searched through my recipe books. Nothing there seemed quite right. Then I went to my PC and tried to search online. The PC was not working. I already had the duck breasts waiting in the fridge and I’d been looking forward to them all day. On the underside of the packet were some instructions on cooking time and temperature. The rest I have made up.
Whilst I cannot pretend it is as tasty as a duck spring roll from my favourite bistro – JRool in Stroud – it was delicious and not as frightening to prepare or cook as I imagined.
Ingredients:
- 2 duck breasts
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds (crushed)
- 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds (crushed)
- salt and pepper
For the sauce -
- The juice of 1 large orange
- A dessertspoon of lime or lemon juice
- Crushed chilli flakes (to taste)
- 2 dessertspoons of fish sauce (Nam Pla) – or you could try using soy
- 1 dessertspoon of ginger puree or an inch of fresh shredded/grated ginger
- I served my duck breasts with boiled rice mixed with peas, spring onion and coriander leaves.
Method:
- Score the skin on the duck breasts and rub some salt over them. If your duck breasts have excess skin (i.e. it overhangs when you turn the breast over) you can trim this off and discard it.
- Transfer them skin side down into a frying pan or roasting pot and rub the crushed cumin, coriander and pepper into the flesh.
- Fry for about 8 minutes without turning them.
- After 8 minutes, take them off the heat and drain the fat before transferring them to a hot oven (about 200 degrees C) for 25 minutes.
- Mix the ingredients together in a frying pan to make the sauce. When the duck and your accompaniment are nearly ready heat the sauce and let it bubble for a few minutes.
- Serve the sauce over the duck breasts and put your rice or noodle selection on the side.
*As duck toughens very quickly when you overcook it I recommend checking the meat after 20 minutes cooking time and reduce your oven to 180 degrees C if you have a fan oven or if you know your oven tends to be overenthusiastic.
