Thai Roast Duck and Pumpkin Curry

[lvdkeyes]

Thai Roast Duck and Pumpkin Curry

1 ½ pound kabocha or other winter squash
4-5 cups coconut milk
4-6 tablespoons red curry paste
1 ½ to 2 tablespoons palm sugar
Thai fish sauce as needed for desired saltiness
2 ½ to 3 pounds roast duck chopped through the bones into small chunks
2-4 red hot chilies cut into thin slivers with seeds
2 cups Thai basil leaves and flower buds
Basil sprigs for garnish

Cut the kabocha in half, scoop out the seeds and pith. Placing the cut ends flat on a surface for balance, peel and discard the greenish skin, then cut into 1 ½ inch chunks.

Do not shake the cans of coconut milk before opening. Spoon 2/3 cup of the thickest cream off the top of the can into a large pot placed over medium-high heat. Reduce cream until thick and bubbly (about 3 minutes), then add the curry paste. Stir and mash the paste into the coconut cream and fry for a few minutes until it is very aromatic and darkened in color. Pour in the remaining milk, stirring well to dissolve the paste to make a smooth rich sauce.

Add 1 ½ tablespoons of palm sugar, stirring well to blend into the curry sauce. Taste and add fish sauce only as necessary to salt to the desired saltiness. This may not be necessary with some brands of curry paste which are already highly salted.

Add the kabocha chunks and duck pieces. Stir well into the sauce. If there is not enough curry sauce to cover most of the squash and duck, add more coconut milk; or if the sauce is already thick and rich, add ½ cup water instead, as the squash and duck will thicken and enrich the sauce as they cook.

Return to a boil, then lower heat to medium, or just enough to boil the sauce gently. Cook partially covered, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender (15-20 minutes). Taste the sauce and adjust as needed with fish sauce and palm sugar to the desired salty-sweet combination. If you want it hotter, stir in the slivered chilies. If a lot of fat has cooked out of the duck, skim off the oil floating on top of the curry sauce. Stir in the basil until it wilts to a bright green color. Turn off the heat and spoon curry into a serving dish. Garnish with basil sprigs.

Serve with hot jasmine rice.

[lvdkeyes]

If you take the time and effort to make your own curry paste you will be rewarded with a superb tasting curry.

Thai Red Curry Paste

8 large dried red chilies, seeded and soaked to soften, then chopped
10-15 red Thai chilies (bird’s eye or, in Thai, prik kee nu), finely chopped
¼ tsp white peppercorns, finely ground
½ tsp cumin, finely ground
1 tsp coriander seeds, finely ground
¼ tsp ground mace
3 Thai cardamoms, removed from shell and finely ground
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp coarse salt or sea salt
1 stalk lemongrass, remove the outer leaves and discard, slice in thin rounds and then chop
1 tbsp Thai galangal, chopped
1 tbsp grated zest of fresh kaffir lime or substitute chopped reconstituted dried kaffir lime peel
1 tbsp chopped cilantro roots or 2 tbsp chopped stems
2 tbsp chopped young ginger
8 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp shrimp paste
Paprika as needed for a richer red color

Grind the spices in a spice grinder or mortar. Set aside. Pound the chopped herbs a little at a time in a mortar until reduced to a paste. Combine the ground spices and pounded herbs with the shrimp paste and pound together to make a smooth paste.

Do not use a food processor as it will merely finely chop and not form a paste.

This will keep in a tightly covered jar in the fridge for a couple of months.