Food & Drink
Vietnamese Duck Salad Serves 4 people I used to live in East London and we had some wonderful Vietnamese restaurants there. I fell in love with this cuisine. It’s often light, fragrant, crunchy and healthy. And those four words perfectly describe this duck salad. The star here is the dressing, which is so versatile. It was made for my show by Anne Harvey, who launched her catering and cookery course company, Taste of Vietnam, in St Albans to showcase all that is great about her country’s food. This is simple food, executed to perfection. Ingredients 2 duck breasts 1 onion 1/2 red cabbage (shredded) 2 green mangos (peeled and julienned) 2 carrots (peeled and julienned) 15 mint leaves (roughly sliced) 10g piece of ginger 2 shallots For the dressing: 1 tbsp fish sauce 1 tbsp lemon/ lime juice 1/2 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp hot water 1 tsp garlic (finely chopped) 1 tsp chilli (finely chopped) 1 tsp ginger (finely chopped or grated) 1 tbsp crushed roasted peanuts
1. Bruise the ginger with a meat tenderiser or rolling pin. The ginger should remain in one piece. 2. Place the duck breasts in a saucepan and cover it with boiling water. 3. Add the ginger, 2 shallots and a pinch of salt to the pan. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes on a medium heat. 4. Take the duck out, leave it to rest and thinly slice it just before serving it. 5. While waiting for the duck to be poached, prepare the sauce. 6. In a small bowl, add the fish sauce, lime or lemon juice, sugar and hot water. Mix well until the sugar has dissolved. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli. 7. In a mixing bowl, combine the mango, carrot, red cabbage and mint. Add a tablespoon of dressing and toss well. 8. Transfer to a plate, add the duck breast slices on the top, and garnish with crushed peanuts and more of the dressing.
(NOTE: Duck breast can be replaced here with chicken breast or tiger prawns.)
Hear wonderful recipes on Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen every Sunday morning on BBC Three Counties radio at 11am. You can also join Nick every weekday afternoon at midday for brilliant local guests with great stories to tell and all the music you want for your early afternoon.
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