Pan fried crispy skin duck, in a sweet, sour and tangy tamarind sauce. Yum!
I've been craving duck for a while, since a friend of mine made some amazing duck the other week and posted it! I couldn't stop thinking abut duck!! 😂
Tamarind duck is my favourite dish when I go out for Thai so I thought I'd wing it and make my own.
Tamarind is a sour and tangy ingredient used often in Indian and Far Eastern cooking, its very versatile, used in savoury and sweet, and is even the tangy ingredient in Worcestershire sauce! Tamarind is potent. A little goes a long way.
You can get it in both paste (which is what I've used here) or dried concentrated form - if you have it dried then simple work to 2 parts water 1 part tamarind, and then use it as you would a paste. I used Gressingham duck breast (which was on sale, double win) and Thai Taste tamarind paste, but any brand will do and I know Sainsburys stock the paste, as do Morissons and Tesco in their world food aisle.
Recipe - Feeds 2
Ingredients
2 duck breasts
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice.
1 heaped tablespoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon honey
1.5 teaspoon soy sauce
1.5 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon brown sugar (plus more if needed)
1/2 small onion thinly sliced
1/2 red pepper thinly sliced
1/2 red chilli thinly sliced
spring onions for serving
1 - Score the skin of the duck breast and rub them with the Chinese 5 spice and then season - leave to come up up to room temperature
2 - Place the breast skin-side down in a cold non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat
3 - As the fat is released, tilt the pan towards you and use a spoon to remove the liquid (this stops your kitchen turning into a smoke box)
4 - Cook the duck breast for approximately 6 minutes then turn it over and continue to cook for 4 minutes.
5 - Using tongs, turn the breast on its sides to evenly sear the meat on all surfaces then remove the breast from the pan. This will still be quite pink in the middle. If the duck is not fully cooked at this point, you like it more well done, or you have thick duck breasts, finish the cooking in an oven pre-heated to 220ºC for another 5-8 minutes.
Allow the duck breast to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
6 - To make the sauce fry the Minced ginger for about 30 seconds then add the tamarind paste, honey, soy sauce, brown sugar plus about 150ml of water, as soon as it start to bubble take off the heat. 7 - Fry the onion, chilli and red pepper sliced and then pour the sauce on top, when it starts to bubble put it on a low simmer and once its thickened turn it off till its ready to use, if it goes too thick simply add another splash of water.
Give it a taste and if its too sweet for you add a squeeze of lemon or too sour add brown sugar a half teaspoon at a time.
8 - Served with some egg fried rice, the pan fried duck and the sauce drizzled on top. Add Chinese veg if you fancy too!
Served with homemade egg fried rice, but just as yummy with basmati, jasmine, boiled rice, or even the ready made rice in packets (no judgement here, do what works for you) Go with whatever takes your fancy☺️!
If you want to make your own egg fried rice, simply take a cup or so of cold cooked rice (that's about 90g uncooked) and pop it in a frying pan with some salt, pepper and a splash of soy sauce, make a well in the centre and crack 2 eggs into it and stir them round, as they start to cook mix in the rest of the rice from the outside and your good to go!
The ready made long grain rice sachets also work well for making your own egg fried rice!
Enjoy!