Name: Spice-stuffed smoked duck
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Indonesian
Ingredients: thumb of turmeric, peeled, or 1 tablespoon ground turmeric; 1 teaspoon ground coriander; pinch of ground cloves; thumb of galangal, skin scrubbed; 2 red bird’s eye chillies; 1 tablespoon dark palm sugar (gula jawa); 1 tablespoon kecap manis; 2 tablespoons oil; 5 large red chillies, seeded; thumb of ginger, peeled; 1½ tablespoons tamarind paste; 1.25 kg (2 lb 12 oz) duck; 10 garlic cloves, peeled; 1 teaspoon smoked salt; 1 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon sesame seeds; 8 small red Asian shallots, peeled; grating of nutmeg

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fire Islands

By Eleanor Ford

Published 2019

About

For special ceremonial occasions in Bali, cooking becomes a community activity and elaborately prepared dishes are crafted to honour the gods. Bebek betutu is one such creation, where duck is bathed in a spice paste and cooked for a whole day in a terracotta pot buried under rice husk embers. The meat is unbelievably tender and imbued with smoke and spice. I have adapted the traditional technique for a home oven with a smoking bag (or covered roasting tray) making it a more manageabl