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Thai duck salad with roast peanuts, shaved cabbage, tamarind and mandarin
( SERVES 4 )

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Photo by Fiona Anderson

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Used in both Asian and European cuisines, duck is easily able to handle robust flavours from earthy root vegetables and bitter greens, to spices and aromatics. Shaved cabbage adds a refreshing crunch to this Thai duck salad.

Thai duck salad

1	Roast duck, whole*
4 cups	Cabbages, finely shaved
4	Spring onions, finely sliced
1	Red onion, finely sliced
2 cups	Fresh coriander, picked and washed
1½ cups	Fresh mint, picked and washed
12	Mandarins, peeled and sliced in half
¼ cup	Roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
¼ cup	Shallots, deep-fried
1 cup	Salad dressing, use the tamarind dressing below

Tamarind dressing

½ tsp	Shrimp paste
1 knob	Fresh ginger, 2cm, peeled and finely sliced
¼ tsp	Salt
2 Tbsp	Desiccated coconut, toasted
1 Tbsp	Peanuts, blanched and roasted
2	Red chillies, small
1 cup	Palm sugar, crushed
½ cup	Water
3 Tbsp	Fish sauce
3 Tbsp	Tamarind

Directions

Thai duck salad

Heat oven to 200C. Remove meat from duck discarding bones and place on to a baking paper-lined oven tray. Place duck into the oven for 4 to 5 minutes to warm up before removing from oven and roughly chopping.
Place warmed duck into a large bowl along with the cabbage, spring onion, herbs, mandarin and half the roast peanuts and deep fried shallots. Add half the tamarind dressing and toss together. Divide between 4 plates and finish each salad with the remaining dressing, peanuts and shallots. Serve immediately.

Tamarind dressing

Heat oven to 200C. Wrap shrimp paste in a small piece of aluminium foil and place on a small oven tray with the ginger and roast for 5 to 10 minutes or until shrimp paste becomes fragrant. (Wrapping shrimp paste in foil will prevent it from burning as it roasts.)
Remove from oven and place in a mortar with salt, coconut, peanuts and chillies and grind to a smooth paste.
Place palm sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat until sugar is dissolved and liquid starts to thicken. Add fish sauce and paste and simmer over a medium heat until aromas from the paste are released. Add tamarind and simmer for a further minute before removing from heat.
Allow to cool and adjust seasoning with a little more fish sauce if desired. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month.

*If time is short buy a whole duck ready roasted from the Chinese grocer or restaurant nearby. If roasting your own duck, cook at 200C until the meat starts to fall off the bone.