Spicy Duck / Goose Curry

Spicy Duck/ Goose Curry:

Just it  happened so that i was writing this recipe today and one of my Bengali colleague called me and said that he is missing duck curry. I was surprised, then again I shouldn't be as all Bengalis love duck curry minus the city boys of Bengal of  course.  This is a very Bengali recipe and as my grandma (mom’s mom) is from south West Bengal, she used to cook it with coconut milk. Her native land is coastal land full of beautiful coconut trees. Their almost all recipe are with coconut milk. These people do not eat very spicy food though, especially red chili is not their favorite but she adapted this recipe to match with her in-law’s customs of spicy, fried and oily food. Well, we added the heat of chili afterward when we followed her recipe. I have eaten duck curry of East Bengal and there I found it with loads of gravy and aubergine, which is as for my taste is very yummy but I am just used to eating this curry and so I introduced the same recipe to my children to take it forward.

The Duck or Goose, what ever you use, tastes better if it is of free range for beautiful flavorsome flesh and it is good when you have it in winter time so you can have enough fat which will give an unique flavor. I believe we Bengalis do not only enjoy food, we enjoy flavors alot, and it is the most essential part of cooking. So sharpen nose rather I should say senses when you want to enjoy this curry.

Ingredient:

1. A nice healthy free range duck/ goose of winter about 1 and ½ Kilo weight which should feed six people. The colour of the skin of this bird should be pink and the fatty bits should look pale yellow under skin.
2. 1 coconut, cored, shredded and blended with hot water. Later press out the milk with the help of a muslin and squeeze the shredded coconut in muslin hard so all milk comes out leaving the nearly dry coconut grates.
3. Mix of hole garam Masala of Bengal: 5 clove, 5 cardamoms, 1 inch long cinnamon,
4. Bay leaves: about 2/3
5. Roasted Cumin seed paste/ powder: about one tea spoon
6. Roasted Coriander powder/ paste: about one tea spoon.
7. Fenugreek seeds: ½ tea spoon
8. Fennel seeds: one tea spoon made into powder.
9. Turmeric powder: 1 table spoon
10. Chili powder: 1 table spoon or more if you really fancy hot food
11. Ginger: 1 and ½ inch made into paste
12. Garlic: I use whole as it will balance the amount of cholesterol of this food, if garlic is not for your taste use ½ of a whole garlic made into paste.
13. Fresh green chili: 5/ 10
14. Fresh green coriander leaves to garnish
15. Little bit of corn oil, about 2 table spoon as coconut will release its oils along with the duck fat.
16. Fresh Lime leaves (optional)

Preparation:

Make duck into medium pieces with the bone and skin. Do not chop up in bite size pieces, otherwise softer meats of breast will become shredded before your drumstick pieces are even cooked.

Fry the pieces in hot oil skin side down, brown them and take them off. You may need to fry them in batches.

In the same pot in medium low heat fry the fenugreek and fennel seeds whole garam masala and then after 30 seconds add onion and fry until transparent and soft. Add turmeric, chili powder, coriander and cumin powders and bit of salt so all the spices amalgamate. You may need to add little bit of water so the spices do not burn or stick to the bottom. Add the fried pieces of meat and fry more, increasing the heat little bit so the overall temperature of the curry does not drop sharply. Stir well, so all the prices coat  meat pieces. At this point duck will release moisture and fat. Do not let it sweat a lot, add bit of coconut milk if it gets dry, but not water. Then after 10 minutes of frying, add rest of the coconut milk and increase the heat so the gravy boils. When it reaches the boiling point, reduce to medium and cover with a tight lid, so no flavour can escape.

After 10 to 15 minutes, check the meat, if they are tender and the thickness of the gravy to make sure they do not dry or stick at the bottom of the pan.

When you reach your desired consistency of the gravy, reduce the temperature further, and simmer with the lid on. Add salt if you need to. Before you take the flame off, add chopped coriander and green chillies, grounded cumin powder if you have in your cupboard. I always add some fresh lime leaves and a squeeze of half a lime for my taste. My grandma and mom always used to make this curry with just enough gravy to coat meats and obviously used to add a lot of oil so it is more succulent and rich. You can do so, if you want to increase your fat intake, or you are just not bothered.

Serve it with steamed brown long grain rice. I am not kidding, it really taste superb with some long grain rice, even better if you can get hold of wild rice with a portion of green salads. Enjoy, as I do in a cold wintry nights watching blankets of snow making my usual neighbourhood looks like a fairytale town.