The hot and sour of this dish refers to the beautiful dressing. Lifted from Nigella Lawson’s Cambodian Beef Salad recipe, I adore the way it cuts through the richness of the duck. Make your life easy and pick up a duck from your local Chinese supermarket. Auckland is blessed to have many Asian supermarkets and I recommend exploring them. I regularly head to our local, Tai Ping, for all our Asian ingredients and vegetables. They are authentic, cheaper and the selection is much wider than the standard grocery store. I found the roast duck stall at the back of Tai Ping and for $12, bought half a Chinese roast duck. Then at home, I simply shredded the meat off the bone for this dish.
I love this dressing for it’s ease to make: Mix together 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, 1 teaspoon of sugar, a little sliced spring onion and chilli. Put in a jar and shake. It will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
This duck salad is gorgeous in the heat of summer, when you want something fragrant but delicious. It will pack well for travelling to BBQ’s or to work as a lunch. Simply keep the dressing aside and add at the last minute after a shake.
Ingredients
- 1 lettuce, washed and leaves ripped
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 1 red capsicum, sliced
- 100gm beans, blanched
- 100gm snow peas, blanched
- 1 spring onion sliced
- 1/2 roast duck, shredded
- 1 handful mint, sliced
- 2 tbsp pomegranate arils
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions
Wash and tear the lettuce in to pieces. Layer in a bowl with the red onion, capsicum, beans and snow peas. Toss together. Top with the shredded duck. Scatter the mint and pomegranate arils and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with the dressing above on the side for everyone to help themselves.
