Chinese Stewed Duck
Duck December 25th, 2007
There are many duck recipes available out there and I am a lover of duck meat. Yet, I must confess that despite there being such a big variety of duck recipes, I am still partial to the chinese duck recipes - peking duck, roasted duck and stewed duck. Today, I shall share with you my wife’s family recipe for stewed duck. We call it Lor Ark in Hokkien.
This duck recipe uses dark soya sauce and some simple ingredients to give the duck an aromatic flavour yet retain the juiciness of the flesh. If you can get hold of the ingredients mentioned, I would recommend that you try this recipe for you will be amazed by how easy it is to cook a wonderful and delicious stewed duck dish.
This is my wife’s recipe for Chinese Stewed Duck
Ingredients
- 1 whole duck (approx 2 kgs)
- 3 inches galangal (lengkuas)
- 8 shallots
- 4 cloves garlic
- 50 grammes 5 spice powder
- 3 tablespoons dark soya sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 litre hot water
- 4 tablespoons cooking oil
Method
Clean duck thoroughly by rubbing it with some salt. Rinse. Rub about 30 grammes of 5 spice powder over the duck and allow to marinade for 1 to 2 hours.
Pound the galangal, garlic and shallots separately.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in wok and saute shallots till aromatic. Remove shallots. Add garlic and saute till aromatic. Remove garlic. Add galangal and saute till aromatic.
Return shallots and garlic into the wok and stir together with galangal till even. Add dark soya sauce and sugar. Stir well.
Add duck and coat it with mixture. Allow duck to cook and shrink slightly. Control heat so that duck does not burn. Once duck has shrunk slightly, add about 200 ml water and allow it to boil. Continue with another 200 ml and repeat process till 1 litre of water used. The water should be filled up to at least half the duck. Add remaining 5 spice powder and reduce heat to simmer.
Stew / simmer for 1.5 hours turning every 10 minutes. Add salt to taste and water if it is drying out.
Remove duck and drain off excess gravy. Allow to cool before serving with gravy (sieve gravy to remove spices before serving).
You like this recipe? Consider leaving a tip :D
My Recommended Recipes
btw, would you know if chicken cube stock...
December 26th, 2007 at 9:10 am
but how do i kill a duck? :/
December 26th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Yummy..!! duck looks really scrumptious..!! i donch know if i am brave enough to try it or not..
December 26th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
ok….looks nice..the 1 thing that ive never tried cooking is definately duck!!!! dont know wat to do with a duck…hehe
December 26th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
i can’t cook, but that looks seriously yum.
December 26th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
That stewed duck looks yummy but I’d prefer Hongkong style roasted duck sold by a local chinese resto nearby my home only for approx USD 12/1 whole duck.
December 27th, 2007 at 11:26 am
ky : Erm…use a knife?!?
Mama Bok : Just do it. Impress yourself and your family.
fashionasia : Now you’ve got yourself a stewed duck recipe which should be simple enough to try. Add this to your list of recipes, eh?
Lainie : Indeed, we finished it in 2 meals. After the first meal, we put it back for further stewing and added some firm tofu. Great with plain porridge as well.
Christine : That’s quite cheap @ USD12 per duck fully roasted. Must be good as the people of Hong Kong are famous for their roast duck cuisine
December 28th, 2007 at 12:17 am
My mum cooked this stew duck during tong zhi too. However, i guess the duck selection also play an important role right? My mum recipe didn’t turn out good as the spices added weren’t enough & the duck is superb hard even we have cooked it for an hour plus. I would love to try ur wife recipe one day.
December 28th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I like to eat Loh Ark with porridge.
But I never buy duck to cook before ler!
December 30th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Oh! Drool!!!!!!!! This one is a keeper. I am quite sure some duck is gonna get cooked when I return to Boston next month. Happy New Year!
December 31st, 2007 at 10:34 am
Reese : Happy New Year Reese! Hope to hear good reports on the duck-venture when you get back to Boston
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Thou shall not worry! Some ducks are gonna get cooked. Will keep you posted.
January 5th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Wow that does look beautiful…I think I will start cooking this now.
January 7th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Sorina : Tell me how did it turn out, ya?
January 10th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Hai Pablopabla,
Really nice to have a website like yours. Lots of homemade goodies. I’ve tried some of your recipes & it taste good.
hmm…..your ducky looks great. Is it salty taste? Nowadays, i would cook the sweet “phak lo ark” just by adding 3-4 more tbsp of sugar/rock sugar. To compliment, add hard boil eggs. Lo Ark taste better overnight. hmm…..yummy!
January 11th, 2008 at 10:21 am
rd : Hello there! Glad to hear that you’ve tried some of the recipes here and found it good
This stewed duck is slightly sweetish as far as the gravy is concerned. You don’t really have to follow the measurements to detail as you know, chinese cooking depends a lot on “estimates” rather than exact measurements. Oh, don’t stop with the hard boiled eggs. Add some firm tofu as well. And yes, it tastes better overnight
January 16th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Thanks! I love duck! yet I rarely have it. Your recipe has inspired me to cook duck this weekend.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
My mama makes it like this! THis is why she’s so popular, too. Haha!! But I love duck cooked this way. The sauce with the rice … mm mm good! I prefer it to the regular type of dry roast duck. Thanks for sharing.