Recipe: Duck curry

Tastebuds will tingle with a duck curry. Photo / Janna Dixon

Thai cooks must rate as the most skilled in the world with their ability to create amazing taste sensations.Their food tingles all our tastebuds and the clean, fresh flavours keep us going back for more. This would be superb made with wild duck. I used meat taken from a fresh duck, breast and thigh meat. To make it simple you could just buy duck breast. Remember to remove the skin.

Serves 4

500g of duck meat without skin
1 garlic clove
3 shallots or a small white onion
1 red chilli
100g green beans
Fresh pineapple, cut into chunks and green grapes (approx 300g total weight )
1 lemongrass stalk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp Thai green curry paste
400ml can coconut milk
1 tsp Thai fish sauce
1 lime and a handful of coarsely chopped coriander

Preparation

1 Slice the meat across the grain into 5cm x 1cm strips.

2 Peel and chop the garlic and shallots. Trim the green beans and cut in half. Trim the chilli, split lengthways, scrape away the seeds and slice into long, thin strips, then chop the strips into tiny dices.

3 Remove the skin from the pineapple and cut into chunks, discarding the woody central core. Take the green grapes from the stalk.

Method

1 Heat a wok, large frying pan, or 2 litre capacity pan and add the cooking oil, curry paste and 3 tablespoons of coconut milk. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes then add the garlic and shallots, toss for another couple of minutes, then add the meat, cooking for a few minutes until coloured on all sides.

2 Bash the lemongrass with a rolling pin to release its flavour, then add that to the pan with the fish sauce and remaining coconut milk.

3 Adjust the heat and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally for 25 minutes or until the meat is tender.

4 Taste and adjust the seasoning with lime juice. Do not worry if the gravy seems very hot. Meanwhile, cook the beans for 1 minute in boiling water. Drain.

5 When the meat is tender, stir in the beans, half the coriander and the pineapple and grapes.

6 Heat through and serve with the remaining coriander and basmati rice.