Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Itek Sio ~ Braised Duck in Tamarind n' Coriander

Itek Sio is a Peranakan braised duck in tamarind and coriander gravy. Cooking duck can be time consuming but using a pressure cooker can reduce the cooking time to a third. To ensure a very fragrant sauce try to use freshly ground coriander. A very tasty fork tender duck with minimum preparation.

Itek Sio

Ingredients
½ duck (1kg)
1 Tbsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp raw sugar
2 tsp dark soy sauce

1 Tbsp tamarind paste
1 cup water


1 Tbsp oil
½ onion (125gm)

1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves

Method
1. Mix together coriander, salt, pepper, raw sugar and soy sauce. Rub all over the duck and let it marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

2. Knead tamarind paste with water, strain and set aside.

3. Heat oil and fry onions until soft. Put duck in to brown the skin.

4. Add the tamarind juice, cinnamon and cloves and bring to a gentle boil.

5. Lock the lid of the pressure cooker and once pressure have been reached, turn heat to low and cook for 25 minutes. Once cooked, let the duck sit in the pressure cooker on natural release.

6. Scoop up the oil floating on the surface of the gravy. Place duck skin side down and boil to reduce gravy until thick and glossy. Turn skin side up and spoon gravy over the duck.

7. Let duck rest for 10 minutes before chopping to serving pieces.

8. Pour some sauce over duck pieces and serve.

Nyonya Braised Duck in tamarind n coriander
Note : If cooking without the pressure cooker more water may be required.

Recipe : Shiok Exciting Tropical Asian Flavors by Terry and Christopher Tan (adapted)

8 Comments:

Anonymous said...

hmmm.. ur recipe looks good. but, u didn't mention when to put in the ground corriander!.. so when do i put it in?

thanks!

Sinner said...

Fellow foodie,
Thanks for pointing out the omission. The coriander is part of the marinate in step 1.
I have edited the recipe.

Amy Goh said...

Hi,

Ur duckie looks really yummy!

May I check freshly ground coriander does dat means grinding fresh coriander leaves?

TIA!

Sinner said...

Hi Amy,
Ground coriander is the spice. If you have a coffee grinder, buy the whole coriander seed as they keep indefinitely and grind it yourself. Ground spices looses its fragrance very quickly.

Amy Goh said...

Hi,

Thank you for enlightening me! Good thing u make time to reply me... if not I will just go ahead with grounded coriander leaves and turn ur great recipe into a disaster...Very sorry... though I would very much like to address u, but I cannot make myself calling you a sinner. :)

Ur food blog is AWESOME! I will be trying out many of ur fabulous recipes soon.

Sinner said...

Hi Amy,
You have to think of 'Sinner' as a fun name and not a 'sin' name. lol

You are most welcome. I do hope you like the duck as much as we do. Would love to hear your feedback after you have eaten some !

Anonymous said...

Hi Sinner,
If I were to use a whole duck (size 17) how long do I have to cook it in the pressure cooker?
Thanks.
June

Sinner said...

Hi June,

The timing actually varies with different pressure cooker. I have 2 different size and different brand pressure cooker and 1 cook a whole lot faster than the other.

Roughly I would cook it for 35-45 minutes depending on how young/old the duck is. I always try to cook ahead of time so will leave the duck in the pressure cooker and not release the pressure immediately.

If you find it is not tender enough, you can always pop the lid back on and cook it for another 5-10 minutes. It is so easy to cook with a pressure cooker.

Hope you like this dish.

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