I love spicy food and anything and everything with curry. When I was in Phuket, I fell in love with this awesome red curry dish with Roasted Duck. It was indeed, ‘Love at first Bite’.
This recipe is inspired by the red curry I tasted before and it’s just so convenient when I have leftover roasted duck meat. Why waste it? Since I love combining flavors with fruits, I decided to give a little twist to this traditional Thai cuisine and turn it into a Malaysian-Chinese fusion dish by adding some sweet lychee. It might sound bizarre but trust me, it’s delicious and you won’t be able to get enough of it!
Ingredients:
a) Red Curry Paste:
- 8 dried red chillies, soaked in warm water and drained
- 1 fresh bird’s eye chilli, roughly chopped
- 3 shallots, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon of fresh lemongrass, finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon of fresh galangal, finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon fresh coriander roots, chopped
- Grated rind of one lime
- 12 whole black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon of rock salt
- 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste
b) Other Ingredients:
- 400ml Coconut Milk
- 4 tablespoons of cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar
- 2 Roasted Duck Drumstick
- 2 Roasted Duck Breast
- 12 cherry tomatoes
- 2 long Thai eggplant cut into large chunks
- 8 okra, sliced to two per piece
- 3 fresh kaffir lime leaves, diced
- 1 fresh red chilli, sliced length-wise
- 1 can of lychee, drained
- 1/4 cup firmly packed fresh Thai basil leaves
Method:
- To make the curry paste, place the cumin, coriander and peppercorns in a frying pan and dry fry over medium heat for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Using pestle-and-mortar, crush the chillies, onion, lemongrass and galangal until it becomes a fine paste. Add in the garlic, coriander roots and lime rind, then the rest of dry ingredients and shrimp paste. Pound until very smooth.
- Heat 4 tablespoons of cooking oil in a wok over medium heat.
- Add in the curry paste and let it cook, stirring continuously for 15 minutes until oil rises to the surface.
- Add in the coconut milk, fish sauce and palm sugar. Bring it to a boil.
- Reduce heat and let the broth simmer. Add in the roasted duck, tomatoes, eggplants, okra and lime leaves.
- Simmer for 5 minutes then add in the lychee and sliced red chilli. Stir to combine.
- Add in the Thai basil only after the curry is off the heat. This will keep the leaves from turning black.
- Serve with steamed rice.
Take You To Thailand and Malaysia!
So, how do you like it? This dish has the best of both Thai and Malaysian flavours in one bowl. I think that the sweetness of the lychee nicely balances out the richness of the spice paste and gives you a refreshing aftertaste. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Any questions about this dish can be asked directly on my Instagram page, @justinescakesandkueh and do follow Butterkicap’sInstagram and Facebook pages for more recipe updates!
