Barbecued duck salad with stone fruit & plum sauce

ingredients

• Dressing

  • 1 1/2 tablespoon grated palm sugar or brown sugar
  • 80 millilitre fish sauce
  • 80 millilitre fresh lime juice
  • 2 teaspoon plum juice (squeeze the remains of the sliced plums for this)
  • 1/2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

• Barbecued duck salad with stone fruit

  • 1 whole asian barbecued duck (i get mine from tai ping supermarket in Auckland)
  • 1 handful rocket leaves
  • 1 handful buttercrunch lettuce leaves
  • 2 spring onions, chopped
  • 3 plums, thinly sliced (reserve leftover flesh and stones for juice in dressing)
  • 1 nectarine, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cucumber, sliced into ribbons (remove any seeds)
  • 12 snow peas
  • small handful beansprouts
  • 1/4 cup coriander leaves
  • a few fresh mint leaves (optional)
  • 1/2 cup salted cashews or peanuts, roughly chopped (optional)

method

• Dressing

  • 1

    Make the dressing first, so the flavours can develop. In a small jar combine all the ingredients and shake vigorously. Set aside.

• Barbecued duck salad with stone fruit

  • 1

    Using your fingers, debone the duck by tearing off the skin and flesh and breaking it into bite-sized pieces.

  • 2

    Just before serving, combine all the fresh salad ingredients in a large bowl. Dress with half the dressing and toss to coat.

  • 3

    Arrange dressed salad on a large platter and place the torn duck pieces on top.

  • 4

    Sprinkle over the chopped nuts, if you’re including them, and serve immediately with the remaining dressing, in a small jar with a spoon, on the side.

notes

Genuine sticky barbecued duck is one of those items that a decade or so ago would have been a challenge to hunt out, but now most large Asian food stores cook them on site or at least know where to get it locally. If you’re a duck novice, don’t be afraid – she’s just the smaller, darker and slightly richer cousin of the roast chook.