Lychee Duck
2 min readLychee Duck
serves 4
This duck dish strengthens the functions of the spleen and nourishes the blood. It also cures anemia, improves the appetite, and invigorates the body as a whole. This recipe calls for a lotus flower, which is not easy to come by in the United States. If unavailable, a rose—grown without exposure to chemicals or pesticides, of course—may be used.
1 whole duck (approximately 5 pounds or 2½ kilograms)
1 fresh lotus flower (or rose)
12 cups (3 liters) water
7 ounces (200 grams) lean pork, chopped
1 tablespoon (15 grams) chopped scallion
3 slices ginger
1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) soy sauce
1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) cooking wine
½ teaspoon (15 grams) salt
Water for steaming
1 cup (200 grams) lychees, fresh or canned
Clean the duck inside and out and pat dry. Remove the petals from the flower. In a large soup pot, bring the water to boil. Drop the petals into the water and boil for 30 seconds. Remove the petals and set aside, reserving the water for later use.Mix the pork with the chopped scallion, ginger, soy sauce, wine, and salt in a medium bowl. Boil the duck in the reserved flower-petal water for 1 minute. Remove the duck and discard the water. Place the duck in a large steaming dish (see page 66) and spread the pork mixture over it. Using a pot deep enough to fit your steamer, bring the water to a boil. When the water is boiling, place the steamer in the pot. Cover, turn the heat down to medium, and steam the duck for 1 hour, or until cooked. (In China meat is considered fully cooked when the tip of a chopstick can easily pierce the meat.) Open the steamer, remove the onion and the ginger, and add the lychees and flower petals in their place. Steam for another 15 minutes Transfer the duck to a plate and allow it to cool, then cut for serving.
