烧鸭炒饭 Shao Ya Chao Fan - Robert's duck fried rice

I had to pick up a painting in San Diego the other day and decided to have dim sum at Jasmine on the way back. 

Good but expensive. 

I love to get there as soon as it opens, the food is very hot and fresh.

I only got four things but it turned out that I had ordered too much food and brought back roast pork and roast duck to share with Leslie.

Leslie ate the pork but we had a lot of duck left so I decided to make duck fried rice last night.

We loved the duck fried rice we used to get at Thai thai and I thought I would make something similar but a bit more Cantonese in flavor.

I know the dish sounds simple but as a beginning cook it was new to me. 

I made up a recipe that I thought might work.

I don't own a wok so I used my trusty Le Creuset skillet.

I bought an extra duck breast at Major Market and sliced it up after thawing. 

I prepped all my vegetables in advance, knew I had to to work fast.

I put a tablespoon of peanut oil in the pan, added chili flakes and gave the duck a quick sear in my very hot pan, then removed it to a plate.

I then added finely minced carrots, celery, sugar snap peas, ginger and lots of sliced garlic to the hot oil and duck fat, then cooked it down for about three or four minutes. 

We do not use onion in our home but we do use onion powder and I gave it a dash. 

Salt and pepper. Squeeze of lemon.

We have some sesame oil from Hong Kong infused with chili, added that and a healthy dose of soy sauce.

I had made rice the night before in preparation and added that along with the dim sum and the new duck breast. 

By the way, you never want to use freshly cooked rice. I used a long grained basmati but jasmine is also good.

I let the rice fry for a few minutes and then made a well in the middle of the dish with my spatula. Many recipes call for two eggs, I whisked up one and poured it into the center of the pan, letting it cook and then spreading it around with a chopstick to scramble.

I mixed everything up and achieved something that looked like this. 

Added another dollop of soy and sesame oil and then chili crisps on top of the serving bowls.

It was delicious, Leslie says even better than the restaurant.  

The duck fat really lends itself to the rice. 

Honestly I wouldn't change a thing with the exception that next time I will let the rice cook a little longer in the cast iron and get even crunchier.

Leslie says that I should cut the sugar snaps in half. 

Will do.

I have a lot of rice left over as well as leftovers. 

I am thinking that I will try crab or pork fried rice next, see what happens.

慢用！