This deliciously spiced duck dish is the ultimate comfort food for when the cooler months are just beginning.
Duck Braised in Spiced Orange Juice Recipe
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 x 2.5kg duck, jointed into 6 pieces
50g garlic, crushed
50g peeled ginger, thinly sliced
1 litre freshly squeezed orange juice
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp granulated sugar
5 star anise
4 red bird’s eye chillies
2 fat lemongrass stalks, core finely chopped
8 spring onions, white part only, plus 1 whole spring onion, to serve
½ tsp cornflour
Method:
Heat a heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat. Add duck pieces, skin-side down, and cook for 5-6 minutes or until crisp and golden. Turn and cook for a further 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Pour all but 2 tbsp of the duck fat from the pan into a glass or ceramic airtight container (save for another dish as it’s great for frying). Heat pan over low heat; add garlic and ginger and cook gently for a 2 minutes or until lightly golden.
Add orange juice, fish sauce, sugar, star anise, chillies and lemongrass to pan and season with black pepper. Return duck to pan, increase heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, for 1½ hours, occasionally turning duck pieces. Halve spring onions; add to duck and cook for a further 30 minutes or until duck is meltingly tender. Trim remaining spring onion; halve and finely shred lengthways.
Transfer duck pieces to a warmed serving dish and set aside in a warm place. Skim excess fat off top of remaining liquid and simmer vigorously over medium-high heat or until reduced and concentrated in flavour.
Mix cornflour with 1 tsp water; stir into sauce and simmer for a further 1 minute. Pour sauce over duck; scatter over the shredded spring onion and serve.
