Braised duck legs in tamarind sauce, with roasted jalapeno sweet potatoes

From “hot hot hot” by Paul Gayler

Ingredients

  • 4 large duck legs
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 6 curry leaves
  • 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 red jalapeno chilli, deseeded and chopped
  • 3 tbsp chopped coriander
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

For the Marinade

  • 1 tbsp tamarind paste
  • 1 red jalapeno chilli chopped
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds

For sweet potato

  • 450g orange-flesh sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm dice
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 green jalapeno chilli, thinly sliced

Method

Blitz together all the ingredients in a blender. Place the duck legs in a bowl, then spread over the blended spice mixture and leave to marinate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Heat the oil in a heavy-based casserole. Remove the duck from the marinade and fry in the hot oil until golden all over. Add the curry leaves and fenugreek seeds and fry for 1 minute. Add the marinade and 300ml of water and mix well to from a sauce. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 50-60 minutes or until the duck is tender.

Meanwhile, toss the sweet potato with the oil and green chilli, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until they are well caramelized.

Remove the duck casserole from the oven, stir in the red chilli and coriander and adjust the seasoning. To serve, divide the sweet potato between 4 severing plates, top with the braised duck legs and pour over the sauce.

 Tips

When placing casserole in oven cook on a lower heat of 160-170C of double the time, 2 hours. The slower you cook the dish the more it enhances the duck flavour