Red curry with duck is one of the great luxury curries of Thai cuisine — a dish that appears on the menus of the finest Thai restaurants for good reason. The rich, deeply flavoured red curry sauce made from dried red chillies, lemongrass, galangal, and shrimp paste has a boldness that stands up to the equally rich, fatty character of duck in a way that chicken never quite achieves. The combination elevates both the curry and the duck.

The addition of lychee — fresh if possible, tinned as an accessible alternative — is one of the most inspired flavour combinations in Thai cooking. The sweet, floral, slightly fragrant fruit provides a counterpoint to the spicy, savoury curry sauce that is simultaneously surprising and completely logical. Every few bites you encounter a piece of cool, sweet lychee and the contrast is extraordinary.

Using roast duck from a Chinese BBQ shop is both a practical shortcut and a culturally authentic one — Thai recipes often call for Chinese roast duck (ped yang) which is more extensively spiced and has a crispier skin than home-roasted duck. The skin crisps further in the curry sauce and its fat renders into the coconut milk creating an almost impossibly rich and unctuous sauce.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 620 kcal   |   Protein: 36g   |   Carbs: 18g   |   Fat: 40g   |   Fiber: 3g

Gaeng Daeng (Thai Red Curry with Duck)

Recipe by By butter u0026 berriesCourse: Thai

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Ingredients

• •tHalf a Chinese roast duck, chopped into pieces (or 600g duck legs, roasted)

• •t2 x 400ml cans coconut milk

• •t4 tbsp good quality red curry paste

• •t200g fresh lychees, peeled and stoned (or canned, drained)

• •t150g cherry tomatoes

• •t6 kaffir lime leaves, torn

• •t3 tbsp fish sauce

• •t1 tbsp palm sugar

• •t2 long red chillies, sliced

• •tLarge handful Thai basil leaves

• •tSteamed jasmine rice to serve

Directions

• Open coconut milk without shaking. Scoop thick cream from the top of both cans into a wide pan. Reserve the liquid.
• Cook coconut cream over medium heat, stirring, for 8-10 minutes until the oil separates and the cream is golden.
• Add red curry paste and fry for 3-4 minutes until very fragrant and the raw smell has gone.
• Add duck pieces and turn to coat in the paste.
• Add remaining coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, and palm sugar. Bring to a gentle simmer.
• Simmer for 15 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes and lychees in the final 5 minutes — they need only brief cooking to warm through without losing their shape.
• Taste and adjust seasoning. The curry should be rich, slightly sweet, and spicy.
• Remove from heat. Stir in Thai basil leaves. Garnish with sliced red chilli.
• Serve over steamed jasmine rice.

Notes

• Chinese roast duck from a BBQ shop makes this recipe achievable on a weeknight — it is already cooked, spiced, and incredibly flavourful.
  Fresh lychees are extraordinary if in season (May-July). Canned lychees in syrup work well year-round — rinse them before use.
  Do not add lychees too early — they soften and lose their pleasant texture if cooked for more than 5 minutes.
  Mae Ploy brand red curry paste is the best widely available commercial paste for this recipe.
  Kaffir lime leaves are not meant to be eaten — push them to the side of the bowl when eating.

Storage

Store in the fridge for up to 3 days. The curry improves overnight. Reheat gently over low heat. The lychees will soften further on storage — add fresh ones when reheating if desired. Freezes well for up to 2 months without the lychees.

Serving Tips

Serve over steamed jasmine rice with a scatter of Thai basil and sliced red chilli. The visual contrast of the red sauce, green basil, and white lychees is stunning. A cold Singha lager or a chilled glass of off-dry Riesling are both excellent pairings with the sweet-spicy complexity of this curry.

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