TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

Spicy Street Panang Duck Curry

$50 serves 4 

1 bag of medium dried red chilies 

1 bruised bunch of thai chilies

handful of sliced kaffir lime leaves 

2 tablespoons coriander root

2 tablespoons lemongrass

2 tablespoons galangal*

teaspoon shrimp paste* 

2 cloves of garlic

1 can of coconut milk

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

1 tablespoon of palm sugar*

handful of coriander leaves (aka cilantro)

rock salt 

1.5 tablespoon cumin seeds

1.5 coriander seeds

1 pack grape tomatoes 

handfull of roasted peanuts

6-ish button mushrooms 

a handfull of green beans

1 capsicum (aka bell pepper)

2 duck breasts*

*you can get from Harris Farm, or most decent food markets

You can do this the easy way or the hard way. Aka, a food processor or grinding and bashing away on a mortar and pestle for 20 mins... I chose mortar and pestle since I like the slightly more 'real' texture of the sauce. Despite what you may get at most Thai Restaurants, Panang is traditionally a stir fry, and not actually a curry.

First up, rehydrate the chillies in some water. This will take around 30 minutes. Stir em' around every once in a while to make sure they're all covered in water.

Whilst that is happening, prepare your duck and vegetables, and start getting to work on roasting the spices and peanuts (2 minutes on low heat in a pan).

Grind the cumin and coriander seeds in the mortar and pestle until reaching a fine powder. Put aside.

Get your soaked chillies and remove the seeds and guts. Chop finely, then get to work on making it a paste in your mortar and pestle. Adding some rock salt will make it easier to break down the skins which can be pretty tough.

Once the paste is all one consistency, add the lemongrass and get the paste happening again. Then add the galangal, coriander root, garlic, spices, 2 tablespoons of peanuts and the shrimp paste. You should pound this paste as much as you can be bothered into a fine consistency.

Okay, now to render out the duck fat. Pat down the duck breasts with a paper towel, score the skin, add some rock salt to the skin side. Put the duck breast skin side down, then bring to a low to medium heat. As the duck breast starts emitting the liquified fat, pour it into a container for use on a separate occasion. You will need to move the duck breast around frequently, but do not flip. Continue until the core temperature of the breast is 115 Farrenheit, then flip and cook for 30 seconds to brown the other side. Remove from heat, and slice into thick strips.

Get out a wok or a big fry pan, and put in a half a cup of coconut milk. Remember to shake the can. Adding this to a hot wok, it should start simmering straight away. Give it 15 seconds then add your curry paste. You should attentively stir this, as you want the paste dry, but not sticking to the wok, adding a 1/4 cup of coconut milk every minute or two. After doing this for 4 to 5 minutes you will start seeing a lot of natural oils coming out of the paste, and it will smell amazing.

Add in the duck, the fish sauce, the palm sugar, and the kaffir lime leaves. Also, add in the whole bruised thai chillies (these are for flavour & they look pretty, I thoroughly advise you do not eat one whole). I also add one chopped Thai chili. Stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Add in the vegetables, and keep adding coconut milk to make the dish your preferred sauciness. I added in total around another half a cup of coconut milk.

Garnish with chopped peanuts, fresh kaffir lime leaves, coriander leaves, some coconut milk drizzled on top, and some wedges of lime.

Serve with jasmine rice and a bottle of Pinot Grigio Portone Italia - the cheapest best bottle of white I've found.