Peter Gordon's Malaysian Duck & Dumpling Recipe

Peter Gordon’s Roast Cambridge duck breast with coconut kumara dumplings, wok-fried bok choy, ginger and black beans and sweet-chilli squid

Serves 4

4 duck breasts
½ red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 red chilli, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 teaspoon fish sauce
150g squid, cleaned and thinly sliced
Handful of coriander, cut on the stalk into 1cm, lengths
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
Coconut kumara dumplings (recipe is below – you’ll need to make these the day before)
4 bok choy, rinsed then sliced lengthways
1 finger ginger, peeled and julienned
1 tablespoon salted black beans, rinsed
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon caster sugar
50ml hot water

Heat oven to 180C.

Score the duck breasts on their skin side and season well. Pan-fry in cast-iron pan skin side down to colour golden then drain fat from the pan and roast the breasts until medium rare. Rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

In a wok, fry the onion, chilli and garlic in the sesame oil until caramelised. Add the palm sugar and fish sauce and bring to the boil, then add the squid and cook til translucent, stirring frequently. Take off the heat and mix in the coriander and spring onions.

Remove dumplings from the banana leaves and pull apart into 2cm chunks then deep-fry in oil at 180 till golden. Drain well and sprinkle with sea salt.

Heat a wok and drizzle in a little oil, then add the bok choy and cook 30 seconds. Add the ginger and black beans and toss and cook until the bok choy has wilted. Mix the soy and caster sugar with 50ml hot water and add to the wok, then cook until water has almost evaporated.

To serve
Place the dumplings and bok choy on a serving plate. Slice the duck and lay on top, then place the squid on with any juices.

Coconut kumara dumplings

You need to steam these, so when rolling your mixture in the banana leaf make sure they will fit inside your steamer
This will make enough for 6-8 portions of duck

500 kumara flesh – you’ll need about 750g of un-peeled kumara
500g coarse salt
80ml coconut cream
80g caster sugar
1 teaspoon flaky sea salt
125g flour
30g coconut flakes
1 thinly sliced spring onion
1 banana leaf - cut the thick middle stem from it and cut into 3 x 20cm lengths

Preheat oven to 190C.

Prick the kumara all over with a fork and sit in a roasting dish with the rock salt on the bottom, then roast for about an hour until cooked – at which point you should be able to poke a thin sharp knife through it.

Leave to cool for 20 minutes, then peel while still a little warm, slice into 1cm thick pieces and place in a food processor with the coconut cream, sugar and flaky salt.

Puree until smooth then tip into a bowl along with the flour, coconut flakes and spring onion and mix well.

Place 1/3 the mixture on a piece of banana leaf and roll up reasonably tightly, folding the ends under it. Place in a steamer basket and steam for 30 minutes.

Take from the heat and leave to cool. It will keep wrapped up for 3 days.