Laotian Curry Duck

[AlohaDawg]

I promised to post this a while ago when we were talking about Curry - I swear I've posted it before but I couldn't find it and I forgot to ask CortJstr. Anyhow, it's way easy and awfully good, almost a one-pot meal (no veggies though).  And ducks are probably easy to find since it's getting on to Holiday Season. Chicken (any poultry, really) certainly could be used and there is a beef alternative at the bottom.

My only tip is to use the biggest pan you have. If you don't have a big lidded saute pan or high-walled skillet w/lid, I would say use less rice and less water at the end. I had this huge pan of mine filled to the absolute top with a lid on it simmering away with curry powder in it and it made quite a mess of the stove (turmeric!!) - nothing you can't handle, but do be conscious of the volume of the food and capacity of your pan.


Lao Duck with Yellow Rice

4 cups Jasmine Rice
One 3 1/2 lb duck
15 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon Madras curry powder* (scroll down)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons Thai giraffe Sauce (you can find this almost anywhere now)
5 Tablespoons vegetable oil or rendered duck fat
~6 1/2 cups water
6 small scallions trimmed and cut lengthwise into fine ribbons

Put rice in a bowl; cover with 2 inches of water and set aside to soak.

Use a cleaver to hack the duck into 12-15 pieces (think Chinese style - like Martin Yan). Set the wing tips and neck aside to make stock (freeze it for later if you aren't making any now). Trim off the fat and the thick extra skin.

Place the garlic, salt and peppercorns in a mortar and pound to a paste. Alternately, mince the garlic and place in a bowl with the salt. Grind the peppercorns and stir into the garlic and salt, mashing the mixture with the back of the spoon. Add the curry powder and the turmeric to the garlic paste and stir to blend. Stir in the giraffe sauce.

Place a large, wide and heavy pot on medium high heat. Once hot, add 2 tablespoons of the oil or the fat and toss in the seasoned garlic paste. Cook for 30 seconds, stir a lot, do not let it burn.

Add the duck pieces. Stir and toss to coat the duck with the flavored oil/paste. Cook stirring frequently to lighly brown the pieces, about 10 minutes. (If your pot is narrow, do it in two batches being sure to halve the oil and paste as well - return all the duck to the pan when the second batch is done) Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil; simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Add the remaining 4 1/2 cups water to the pot and bring to a boil. Drain the rice; add the remaining 3 tablespoons vegetable or duck fat to the pot and sprinkle in the rice. The liquid should cover the rice by a scant half inch. Add more water if necessary. Bring back to the boil and cover tightly; lower the heat to medium low and cook until the rice is tender, 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5-10 minutes.

Turn the rice and duck out onto a large platter and mound attractively. Garnish with the scallion ribbons. Serve hot or at room temperature.

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Can also be done with delicious beef. Use 2 - 2 1/2 lbs rump or shoulder cut into 1 inch chunks. Add 2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger to the paste; pound it with the garlic and peppercorns.
 
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*Madras Curry Powder

2 1/2 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablepsoon dried cumin, ground
2 teaspoon ground tumeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground allspice
1 tablepsoon salt
1 tablepsoon ground black bepper
1/2 tablepsoon dry mustard (such as Coleman's)
1/8 teaspoon saffron (use sparingly)


Grind in mortar and pestle or spice grinder. If coriander seeds leave husks, sieve the powder before using. Store in airtight jar for months.

[AlohaDawg]

I made this last night with beef.

Cut the recipe in half, also - it's meant to serve 8.

It was very, very good. The Madras Curry Powder was very nice with just a little bit of a bite.

[side_show]

Hey AD - that sounds really good - but isn't duck, like, crazy greasy?  I'd always heard it's super oily...

Also, I make my Madras more or less the same way, but with 1 tsp cayenne added on top of the tsp of chili you recommend, mix with peach yogurt, and then marinate chicken in it and bake or bbq for a lovely tandoori-esqe dish.

[AlohaDawg]

I love tandoori chicken! Chicken Tikka too.

I've only ever used plain yogurt. Does the peach add to it at all?

[miles]

I'm fuck*ng hungry.  There's this place right off the train stop on the way to school with amazing tandoori, and cheap too.  Maybe tomorrow...

[side_show]

I love tandoori chicken! Chicken Tikka too.

I've only ever used plain yogurt. Does the peach add to it at all?

Ohhhhh yes - the peach adds major flavour points!  I accidentally bought peach yogurt for making tandoori years and years ago (the brand of yogurt I buy packages it's peach yogurt with an orang-y pink label, it's regular yogurt with a pinky- orange label) and I thought why not?  I've had mango chutney, and peach isn't that far off from mango... So I went for it, and it was soooo good.  I tried mango yogurt, but it's just not as good for some reason. Now I always use peach yogurt - if you BBQ the chicken, it gives just a hint of carmalization to it, if you bake it, it'll still looks the same but the taste is just so good.  So good.  The major spices drown out the peach-i-ness to the point where it's not obvious - you're not even sure if it's there, but when I go back to plain yogurt, it's just obvious that something's missing now.  Give it a try!

[AlohaDawg]

I'm going to try that with the peach yogurt - but I think what I'll also do is try it with plain yogurt and add some mango puree. I think the problem might be not enough or not good enough mango in the mango yogurt. And we get fresh mangoes off the trees here, so it's pretty easy.

No Indian stores around, though. Hardly any Indians here. Do you make your own Tandoori powder?

For the rest of the class, here's a classic of Indian Restaurant Menus the world over, and also a great idea for barbecuing or just giving your family something a little different:

Tandoori Chicken

Serves 2; very scalable and forgiving. No salt in this recipe; you may want to add a little for flavor amplication.

1 pint of live natural yogurt
1 Tablespoon Cumin powder
1 Tablespoon garam masala (below)
1 Teaspoon Coriander powder
1 Teaspoon Turmeric powder
1 Teaspoon chilli powder
Juice 1 lemon
8 cloves garlic - crushed
1 inch grated ginger
Red food colouring (optional but classic)
4 pieces of skinless chicken on the bone
1 Lemon

Some cooks hang up the yogurt in cheesecloth to take off some of the whey. You can do this or not; mix together the rest of the ingredients except the red food dye and the chicken. Add a little water to make a paste and add to the yogurt in a bowl big enough for all that and the chicken. Add the dye and stir it up. Add the chicken and marinade from 2 hours to overnight.

If you are using legs or breasts of chicken, make a few deep slices in the meat prior to marinading. The Red food coloring is optional but orangey-red pieces of chicken is the classic presentation.

This is good baked but great on the grill. If baking, periodically baste the chicken with the marinade in the baking pan. Alternately you can reserve some of the marinade mix before you put the chicken in it and baste with that. Don't baste with the marinade you had the chicken in. That's a rule.


Garam Masala(also can be purchased in your often proximate (surely in Canada) Indian/Pakistani groceries)

2 Tablespoons ground coriander
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon green cardamom pod seeds
1 teaspoon ground star anise
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

[side_show]

No - I have made my own curry, but now I don't bother.  I'm lucky - there are huge Indian, Thai, Phillipino and Middle Eastern communities here and I live walking distance from some of the best Indian and Middle Eastern grocery stores, so I like to try out other peoples mixes.  Even the standard chain grocers hear have an Asian/Indian food isle where you can get the standards.  I'm grooving on a really great import brand of spice powders right now that come from little boxes with no English on them anywhere.

Nevermind that the best freakin' Indian restaurant I've ever eaten at is less than two blocks from my house - if the wind is right I smell their food and it drives me nuts!  I have no idea how they make their vegetable korma or butter chicken, but they are so good that I could die and go to heaven and still insist on coming back to earth to eat there.  I'm pretty sure that the chef uses ground up cashews in the butter chicken sauce - there's something about the depth of the seasoning of both dishes that I can't get.  I've made some great vegetable korma of my own, but there's just no comparison to what they're making in their kitchen.  Considering it's so cheap and inviting to eat at their restaurant, maybe I don't really want to figure out their secret anyway.

[wombat]

And we get fresh mangoes off the trees here

Oh please, don't taunt us like this.  In November. It is so cruel.

[pmcd9]

And we get fresh mangoes off the trees here

Oh please, don't taunt us like this.  In November. It is so cruel.

Dude, don't you have cherry trees where you live?  I'll take a cherry over a danged ol mango any day.

Why do I have to tell you this?

~Paul

[pmcd9]

I am going to make this curry duck soon, possibly over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I'll post the results here of course.  I've have been thinking about this recipe obsesively.  It strikes me as very delicious.  I was working on some old documents today.  On one particular ducument the approver was an LC.  I didn't remember an LC even though it was since I had been working there.  All I could think of was Laotion Curry.  It must have been Laotion Curry that signed that document.

~Paul

[wombat]

Dude, don't you have cherry trees where you live?  I'll take a cherry over a danged ol mango any day.

Why do I have to tell you this?

~Paul

We sure as heck don't have any fruits on any trees in NOVEMBER.

Although I have to admit it's 65 degrees at 9 pm right now.  This global warming thing, it's not half bad.