Name: Savoury Duck with Lychees
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons fish sauce or light soy sauce; 1 tablespoon lime juice; 1 tablespoon sugar; 450 g (1 lb) boneless duck breasts, skinned; handful fresh basil leaves; 4 large fresh red Thai chillies, seeded and sliced; 225 g (8 oz) fresh or tinned, drained lychees; 4 fresh kaffir lime leaves or 2 teaspoons lime zest; 3 tablespoons crushed roasted peanuts; 400 ml (14 fl oz) tinned coconut milk; 600 ml (1 pint) homemade chicken stock or store-bought fresh stock; 2 teaspoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry; 2 teaspoons light soy sauce; 1 teaspoon shrimp paste; 2 teaspoons sesame oil; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons cornflour; ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh galangal root or ginger; 3 tablespoons groundnut (peanut) oil; 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Ken Hom Cooks Thai

By Ken Hom

Published 2001

About

Thailand is blessed with a large variety of tropical and, to us, exotic fruits. It is therefore not surprising that these fruits have found their way into the Thai cooking canon. Such fruits are often paired with meats and the result is always delectable.

I am especially fond of duck with lychees (also called lichees, litchis). Here rich duck meat is combined with the sweet flavour of juicy lychees in an aromatic sauce. In Thailand this recipe calls for a whole duck, cooked bones an