The rich, savory sauce is infused with a fresh pepper aroma, and the duck is tender and fall-apart soft.
Duck dishes are not very common because duck meat is tougher than chicken and doesn't work well for quick stir-frying. But what if you're craving duck? I came up with this method—it's not too complicated, tastes great, and is delicious served either hot or cold. The highlight is the addition of two types of peppers; be sure to briefly stir-fry them in a little oil to release their fragrant aroma.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
2 duck legs (about 500 g / 1 lb)
Fresh duck legs are best, duck breast is second choice.
Additional Ingredients
green and red chili peppers, to taste
Seasonings
10 g soy sauce
15 g (about 1 tablespoon) fermented soybean paste
15 g (about 1 tbsp) Shaoxing wine
1 g salt
5 g (about 1 teaspoon) sugar
green onions and ginger to taste
Instructions
Instructions
Preparation
Step 1: Debone the duck legs, leaving the skin on, and chop into 2 cm (about 3/4 inch) wide strips. Marinate with 5 g (1 teaspoon) of yellow wine and scallion-ginger mixture for half an hour (Image 1).
*Duck legs can also be chopped into pieces with the bone left in, but you will need to braise them a bit longer.
*Do not add salt when marinating, as the braising process will infuse the flavor; salting beforehand will make it too salty.
Remove stems from green and red hot peppers, then cut into 1 cm (about 1/3 inch) cubes. Slice scallions and ginger, and set aside (Image 2).
Pan-fry the duck strips until golden brown on both sides.
Heat a wok over high heat, add a little oil and heat until nearly smoking. Place the duck strips in the wok and pan-fry over high heat for 2 minutes, then flip and fry for another 2 minutes until the surface is lightly golden. Remove and set aside (Image 3).
*The oil for pan-frying the duck strips must be hot enough to quickly brown both sides.
Stir-fry the yellow soybean paste.
④Pour off half of the rendered duck fat, then stir-fry the soybean paste over low heat for about 10 seconds until fragrant (Image 4).
*After pan-frying the duck strips, a lot of oil will be released; be sure to pour off some of it before stir-frying the soybean paste, otherwise the dish will be too greasy.
*Be careful to control the cooking time—as soon as you smell the fragrant aroma of the sauce, proceed to the next step, otherwise the sauce will burn.
Add the scallion and ginger slices, stir-frying over medium heat (Image 5), then immediately add soy sauce and stir-fry over high heat until fragrant, followed by the Shaoxing wine (Image 6).
*For best results, pour the soy sauce around the edges of the wok to fully release its aroma.
Simmer until the duck is tender and the sauce has thickened, allowing the flavors of the two types of peppers to fully infuse the meat.
Add hot water, salt, and sugar, stirring to combine, then add the duck strips. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for about 25 minutes (see Figure 7).
*The water used for braising the duck strips should not be too much—just enough to barely cover them or reach the same level; otherwise, there will be too much sauce to reduce at the end, resulting in a less rich flavor.
When the braising time is almost up, heat a small amount of oil in a separate wok until it's about 80% hot, add the minced green and red chili peppers, and stir-fry over high heat for about 5 seconds, then immediately remove from the wok (Image 8).
*Both green and red chili peppers must be stir-fried in hot oil—this not only releases their aroma as mentioned earlier but also removes their raw, pungent taste.
Step 8: Pour the stir-fried green and red chili peppers into the pot with the braised duck and stir to combine (Image 9), then cook over high heat until the sauce is reduced and thickened (Image 10).
*The chili peppers must be added at the very end when reducing the sauce; do not add them early, as it will affect the color, aroma, and flavor.
Flexible application
Besides duck, chicken can also be prepared this way, but it doesn't need to cook as long since duck meat is tougher, while chicken is not—about 15 minutes of simmering is enough.