Duck Breast and Garlic Sprouts Stir-Fry (蒜苗炒鴨胸)

Found a piece of duck breast sitting in the fridge. If serving it as an entrée, the portion is more than enough for one person but then quite little for two people. So instead of simply searing the breast and served with some kind of balsamic and fig reduction sauce, Chinese stir-fry might be a more suitable option. 

*Balsamic and fig reduction sauce sounds yummy though, that means I'll just have to buy more duck breast next time.

Duck breast and garlic sprouts stir-fry -

Ingredients?

• 1 or about 200 grams duck breast 
• 1 bundle garlic sprouts
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 to 2 big red chilies
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine
• Small pinch granulated sugar
• Some salt
• Some black pepper

How?

Cut the garlic sprouts into about 2-inch long sections. Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves. Discard the chili stems and cut the remaining section diagonally. 

Sprinkle some salt and pepper on both sides of the duck breast. Let the meat sit in room temperature for about 5 to 10 minutes before searing.

Prepare a pan and turn to medium high heat. Transfer the duck breast over with skin side down. There is no need to drizzle extra oil since the duck skin will starts to render quite some fat during the process.

Sear till the skin side turns slightly browned and the fat has rendered. Some prefer to sear the breast till no more fat remains under that crunchy skin, but it's not necessary for this stir-fry recipe.

Flip the breast to the other side and sear till almost cooked through. Remove from heat and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice and set aside for later use.

Use the same pan but pour out any excess oil, leaving just about 1 to 2 tablespoons of fat. You can use the leftover oil for other stir-fry dishes or bake root vegetables. 

Turn to medium high heat and wait till the oil turns hot. Add in chopped garlic, chilies, and garlic sprouts. Give it a quick stir and wait till that garlicky aroma starts to permeate the kitchen. 

Pour in some rice cooking wince and sprinkle some salt and sugar. Taste and adjust the flavor with salt and sugar. Sugar can balance off the saltiness and provides more depth to the dish, but use no more than 1 teaspoon for this recipe.

Transfer the duck breast slices back to the mixture and give it a quick stir again. Once the meat is fully cooked through, transfer to a serving plate.

If you pump up the salt and chilies, this duck breast stir-fry actually serves well as a beer food/otsumami. You can also substitute the meat with store-bought smoked duck breast and skip the searing part. 


Other duck breast recipes:

• Pesto risotto with seared duck breast, perhaps with a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar?
• Just got a little greedy on the seared duck breast...just a little...(spaghetti with duck breast in balsamic cream sauce)
• Fancy salad is not as hard as it looks - utilizing store bought ingredients to create restaurant quality greens

Healthier Version of String Beans with Fermented Dried Soybeans

Usually string beans are fried for this classic Asian dish, but to keep it on the healthier side, I boiled the string beans instead. To be honest, the flavor is not as satisfying as the oily version, but you still get all the essence from the fermented dried soybeans topping. Give and take, healthy vs. delicious, this dish provides something in between.

Healthier version of string beans with fermented dried soybeans -

Ingredients?

• 0.5 lb string beans
• 4 tablespoons fermented dried soybeans
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 to 2 red chilies
• 1 stalk scallion
• 1/2 tablespoons grated ginger
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Chinese rice cooking wine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar

How?

Trim off the scallion stem and finely chop the remaining section. Trim off the chili stems and finely chop the remaining section too. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Peel and grate or finely chop the ginger.

Pinch the top and bottom tips of the string bean and pull downwards to remove the tough-to-chew strings.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the string beans. Cook till the texture reaches your preference. If prefer a fresher, crunchier string beans, cook for about one minute then blanch them. Transfer the string beans onto a serving plate.

Use a pan and drizzle some oil. Turn to medium high heat. Once the oil gets warm, add in scallion, garlic, chilies, ginger, and fermented dried soybeans. Cook till aromatic but not burning the garlic, should take less than a minute.

Add some salt along with a splash of Chinese rice cooking wine. Taste and adjust the flavor with salt. Give it a quick stir and cook till the mixture nearly dried up. Transfer the soybeans mixture on top of the string beans.

The fermented dried soybeans will expand during the cooking process, sometimes even double the size. You'll actually end up with much more toppings then it looks initially. 

The fried version tastes better, but definitely not as healthy as this one. With such strong and aromatic toppings, I can live with water boiled string beans for now. 


Other recipe using fermented dried soybeans:

• Stir-fry cabbage with Chinese fermented dried soybeans - 豆酥高麗菜