Dry-Wok Spicy Duck (Gan Guo Ya Zi)

This was good, honest Hunan cooking at it's best, with a few additions from me. Not the healthiest of all dishes out there (due to the duck skin rendering out), but tasty, to be sure.

Traditionally, this would be served at the table with one of those little burners and a little wok with the broth in it and folks would dip their food in with chopsticks and eat it. Well, a little wok and burner are not items which we have in the kitchen, so we just made it like a stew.

I made some brown rice with some five-spice powder and Sichuan peppercorns to go underneath it. This can be a spicy as you like, really, and we like it spicy. The broth nicely melds all of the flavors going on here.

DUCK
2.25 kg duck, or 4 portions duck wth skin (leg, breast or a mixture)
30 g ginger, unpeeled and sliced
2 pieces cassia bark or cinnamon stick
½ star anise
2 tablespoons chilli bean paste
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
1 bay leaf
1 cao guo
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
groundnut oil, for frying

FINISH
2 cloves garlic, sliced
½" piece ginger, peeled and sliced
small handfuls dried chiles
½ red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into broad slices
3 slender scallion, trimmed, in bite-sized pieces
cilantro, to garnish

DUCK
If you are using a whole duck, cut away the whole leg joint close to the carcass, then divide the thigh and lower leg and continued use a heavy cleaver to chop each piece into 2 or 3 chunks. Cut away the breast from the breastbone and cut into bite-sized chunks. The wings can also be cut away and chopped into chunks if you wish to add them to the dish, or they can just be saved for adding to the stockpot.

Heat 200 ml groundnut oil in a wok over a high flame until it reaches 180C. Add the duck and fry for a couple of minutes to allow it to lose some of its water content. Remove with a slotted spoon, allow the oil to return to 180C and then re-fry the duck pieces until lightly browned; set aside. It is best to fry the duck in a couple of batches.

Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil and re-heat over a high flame. Add the ginger, cassia and star anise and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the chile bean paste and fry some more until the oil is red. Add the duck, and splash in the wine around the edge, stirring well.

Turn the duck and all its flavorings into a saucepan or flameproof casserole and barely cover with water. Bring to the boil, add the bay leaf, cao guo and dark soy sauce, with light soy sauce and salt to taste. Turn the heat down and simmer gently, uncovered, for an hour or so, until the duck is tender and flavorful and the liquid reduced. (This step can be done in advance.) Discard the whole spices as far as possible.

FINISH
When you are ready to eat, set a small wok to heat over a low flame or in the oven. Heat your normal wok over a high flame until smoke rises, then add 2 tablespoons oil and swirl around. Add the garlic, ginger and dried chillies and sizzle briefly until fragrant. Add the prepared duck and the liquid left in the cooking pot. bring to the boil and check seasoning.

Turn the stew into the small wok, top with the red pepper and spring onion and a sprig of coriander, and take, sizzling, to the table. If you are serving the dish in a bowl, rather than over a burner, simply add the red pepper and onion to the stew while still on the heat before serving with a garnish of cilantro.