Duck Aceh-Style (Gulai Itik Aceh)

Locale: Indonesia [Aceh]

Source: Sri Owen, Indonesian Regional Cooking [p. 30]

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 duck, 4-4.5 lbs
  • 6 shallots or 2 onions, chopped
  • 1.25 c thick coconut milk
  • 4 tbs peanut oil
  • 2 tbs lime juice
  • 4-5 tbs freshly grated or desiccated coconut
  • 2.5 c thin coconut milk

Paste:

  • 2 shallots, chopped
  • 3-4 large red chillies, de-seeded and chopped
  • 2 tsp ginger, chopped
  • 1 tsp galangal, chopped, or 0.5 tsp powder
  • 4 cloves
  • 6 tbs thick coconut milk
  • 3 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp ground mace
  • 0.25 tsp grated nutmeg
  • 0.25 tsp fennel seed
  • 7-10 whole black or white peppercorns
  • 1 tsp salt

Steps

  1. Cut duck into 8 serving pieces, and trim off exces fat. Wash pieces in salted water, then rinse well. Dry, then brown them, without oil.l Keep the browned duck in a large glass bowl. Use the duck fat to fry the shallots or onions until slightly coloured. Take them out with a slotted spoon and discard the fat.

  2. Dry-fry the grated coconut until golden brown. Put in a blender and blend until you have an oily paste (or use mortar and pestle).

  3. Put all of the paste ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer the paste to the bowl with the duck pieces, and add the browned coconut paste, fried shallots (or onions), and lime juice. Mix well. Add the thick coconut milk, and leave to stand 10-15 minutes.

  4. Put the duck mixture into a l arge saucepan, heat it to near boiling point, and cook until it starts to sizzle and spit. Turn the duck pieces around with a wooden spoon, then cover pan tightly. Let the duck cook in its own steam for 5 minutes. Uncover, add thin coconut milk, and cook for another 25-30 minutes, or longer until done.

Notes

  1. I used half of a roasted duck. I chopped it up into fairly small pieces. In retrospect, I probably should have deboned it and just used the meat. But I did start with browning the duck, which rendered enough fat to cook the paste.

  2. I followed this recipe very loosely. After browning the duck, I sauteed the shallots in the duck oil, then added the coconut, then the paste. When fragrant, I added some coconut cream and lime juice, and when that was bubbly, I added the duck, and more coconut cream. I then cover the pan, cooked over moderate heat for 20-30 minutes, then uncovered the pan, and cooked it longer, until the gravy was thick.

  3. I included garlic in the paste, on the off chance that 'cloves' was a typo, but included ground cloves for good measure. I skipped the chillies, but included a small bit of red pepper.

Log

  1. 2025-10-25: