Red Curry with Seared Duck Breast

Red Curry with Seared Duck Breast

In Denmark we often had curries, but I have never had fresh bamboo shoots before moving to the States. Knowing how good fresh poached bamboo shoot tastes, I will never go back to the ones you can buy canned in the stores. They don't have the soft texture and sweet taste.

This is my take on a red duck curry.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1 duck breast, seared and roasted
• 1 red or yellow pepper
• ½ fresh poached bamboo shoot, thinly sliced (can be substituted with canned bamboo shoot)
• 1 can baby corn (or fresh), cut bite sized 
• 150 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 handful sweet basil leaves
• 8 lychee fruits
• 1 jalapeño, sliced thinly for topping
• vegetables oil for cooking

Curry Paste:

• 2 dried red chili peppers
• 1 fresh red chili pepper
• ¼ red onion
• 3 teaspoons lemongrass (minced or paste)
• 1-inch (3 cm) ginger, peeled and sliced
• 4 garlic gloves
• 7 black peppercorns 
• 3 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:

Make the curry paste, by blending all the ingredients in a mini blender until you have a smooth paste. 

Chop all the vegetables in bite sized pieces, and set them aside. 

Heat some vegetable oil in a wok, add the curry paste and cook until fragrant. Add vegetables, a little at a time, so the wok don't cool down. 

Add sugar, coconut milk and fish sauce. Let the sauce thicken a bit while simmering. Season the sauce with fish sauce, pepper and sugar.

Just before serving, add the lychee fruits and basil leaves.

Serve the curry over rice and thinly sliced duck breast.

Enjoy!

Seared Duck Breast

Duck Breasts

In Denmark we have roasted duck for holidays like Christmas, but duck breasts is a great cut of meat, that works great in a lot of dishes. I love seared duck breast on a nice salad with blue cheese, berries or with a bunch of steamed vegetables. The possibilities are almost endless.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 duck breasts
• salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Using a sharp knife, score skin in ¾-inch diamond pattern (do not cut into flesh). Sprinkle with a good amount of salt.

Place the duck breasts skind-side down in a cold skillet. Place the skillet over medium heat. The duck fat starts to render and will add enough fat to cook the breasts. This process will add to the crispiness of the skin. Cook the breasts like this for about 5 minutes. Turn duck breasts over and put the skillet in the preheated oven until to desired doneness, about 6-12 minutes depending on size and desired doneness.

Transfer to work surface, cover with foil to keep warm, and let rest 7-10 minutes. Thinly slice duck, and serve on a salad, curry or with all the christmas trimmings as Caramelized potatoes, pickled red cabbage.