Roast Duck with Pineapple-Chili Carmel

My parents regularly go to South Africa on holidays and recently brought back a new cook book ("Reuben cooks: food is time travel" by Reuben Riffel), which has a great collection of recipes. Some are admittedly slightly outside my comfort zone, but this duck that my father made for us a few days before Christmas is just heavenly. It admittedly takes a bit of time to prepare, so it's probably a dish you might want to cook on weekends or for guests, but trust me it's worth the effort. Here I am serving it with some fried rice and pak-choi with shitake mushrooms.

Ingredients (serves 4): 

4 -6 duck legs ( depending on the size)

1,5 l of chicken stock

1 cup of soy sauce

1 cup brown sugar

4 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

1 clove of garlic, peeled

Zest of one orange

1 star anise

For the caramel: 

1/2 cup of palm sugar (I used brown sugar instead)

1/2 cup of water

1 red chili, sliced

1 green chili, sliced

4 tablespoons of pineapple

4 tablespoons of fish sauce

Juice of 2 limes

Preparation:

1. Heat the chicken stock in a large pot and add the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick, star anise and the orange zest. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and add the duck. After 40mins remove the duck and place in the fridge (uncovered!) until completely cool (you can also just place it in a cool basement or pantry and leave overnight). The idea is that the skin of the duck will start to dry out, giving it a lovely crunchy texture once cooked (this is similar to the way Peking duck is prepared).

2. Heat the oven the 220°C. Place the duck in an oven tray and allow to roast at this temperature for 10 mins on each side. Then turn down the heat to 160°C and leave in for another 1 1/4 hours. There is simple test to check whether the meat is done: just take a wooden skewer and stick it in the thick part of the leg, the duck is done when it goes in easily. Remove the meat from the oven and allow to rest for 10 mins. 

3. In the meantime, place the palm sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Allow to boil until the mixture starts to thicken slightly. Add the chilies, pineapple, fish sauce, and the lime juice and slowly cook for another 5 mins.