Duck Shawarma with Fig Jam

Name: Duck Shawarma with Fig Jam
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 2 h 45 min
Total time: 3 h 10 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: Undressed Herb Salad, to serve; ½ tsp mastic powder, xanthan gum or about 4 small mastic tears ground using a pestle and mortar; 4 Thin Flatbreads, to serve; 4 tsp sea salt; ¼ tsp fennel seeds or aniseeds, crushed; 200 g/7 oz/heaped 1 cup caster/superfine sugar; ½ tsp ground mahlab or ground almonds; 1 tsp orange blossom water; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 8 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed; 2.5 cm/1 in piece of root ginger, grated; 1 tsp dried mint; 200 g/7 oz/1¼ cups dried figs; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 2 cardamom pods, crushed; juice and finely grated zest of 1 orange; 4 duck legs, skin on

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
3 hr 30

Appears in

The Jewelled Kitchen

By Bethany Kehdy

Published 2013

About

This dish was inspired by a shawarma sandwich I once had at Ilili restaurant in New York City. Shawarma is widely believed to have originated in Anatolia, Turkey, and the name is derived from the Turkish word “cevirme”, meaning “turning”, referring to the traditional method of cooking it on a spit.

Ingredients

4 tsp sea salt
½ tsp mastic powder, xanthan gum or about 4

Asia
Turkey
Preserve
Main course
Gluten-free
Mediterranean
Spicy

Method

Put the salt, mastic powder, mahlab, cinnamon, mint, ginger, half the garlic cloves and the orange zest in a bowl and mix well to make a rub. Crush the cardamom seeds using a pestle and mortar and add to the mixture.
Lightly pierce the duck skin all over the legs with the point of a sharp knife or a skewer, being careful not to puncture the meat, as this would