Recipe: Smoked Duck with LINGHAM’s Chili Orange Sauce

December is a month filled with lots of festive celebrations as well as anticipation for the coming New Year. It’s also a great month to have parties or whip up special meals for family or friends. I always try to make something out of the norm and would try to find special ingredients that I love but only indulge in special occasions.

This round, I was going to a potluck party at a friend’s house and decided to make a Smoked Duck Breast with Rocket Salad dressed with LINGHAM’s Chili Orange Sauce. Smoked duck breast is now easily available in most major supermarkets in the frozen section. It is a bit on the pricey side so I do treat myself with this yummy premium ingredient once in a while. Besides, it’s easy to prepare and always makes a great crowd pleaser at parties.

This recipe practically takes less than half hour to make and clean up before getting dolled up to head to the party. It is great served at room temperature or chilled. Sauce can be poured on just before serving.

What makes this dish unique is the pairing of fruity sweet and spicy dressing with the savory and smoky duck breast. I used rocket leaves to give the dish a bitter and peppery edge but you can use normal mixed greens if you don’t like rocket leaves. The rest of the ingredients for the salad is really up to what you like to be honest.

If you cannot find smoked duck breast, you can use smoked salmon, chicken breast or even steak to replace but these will work with the sweet and spicy dressing made with my favorite LINGHAM’s Chili Sauce. Hope you enjoy this and here’s to ushering in a brand New Year!

SMOKED DUCK WITH LINGHAM’S CHILI ORANGE Sauce

Ingredients

2        Smoked Duck Breasts

2        Oranges

2 tbsp LINGHAM’s Chili Sauce

2 tbsp Apricot jam

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Sesame Seed (toasted)

1        Bell Pepper

200gm        Rocket leaves or mixed greens

some  Cherry Tomatoes

some  Cilantro (optional)

Method

Prepare side salad by mixing rocket leaves, sliced bell peppers, cut cherry tomatoes and picked cilantro.

Cut up 1 orange into segments and placed on rocket salad.

Heat up pan on low heat and add in smoked duck breast, skin side down.

Slowly render duck fat and crisp it up till golden brown for about 2 to 3 mins.

Flip over the duck and cook the meat side for 1 min.

Remove smoked duck to a plate and pour out the duck fat oil from pan.

Heat up the pan again on low heat.

Add in apricot jam, LINGHAM’s Chili Sauce and squeeze in 1 orange juice.

Mix well and let it come to a gentle boil to thicken up the dressing.

Turn off heat and add in olive oil and sesame seed.

Slice up smoked duck breast and place with rocket salad.

Drizzle LINGHAM Chili Orange dressing over smoked duck and rocket salad, serve.

Extra Notes and Tips

• Substitute smoked duck breast with grilled chicken, steak or even smoked salmon
• Try different range of LINGAM’s Chili Sauce – Original, Thai, Sriracha, Extra Hot
• Serve with your favorite ingredients for salad

Recipe: Smoked Duck Breast with LINGHAM’s Mango Salsa

I am always on the lookout for some easy party dish. Since I love to cook, I also love to share my food with family and friends. Lucky for me, my family and friends are always adventurous and easy-going when it comes to food. So I get to play in my kitchen and take them all on a yummy food journey all over the world!

While shopping for grocery one day, I spied smoked duck breast in the frozen section of my local grocery store. These individually packed smoked duck breast are about RM8 plus a piece. I decided to try these out since I love duck. I was told that these smoked duck breast are already ready to be eaten since it’s smoked till cooked. I also spied the same smoked duck breast in other bigger and international grocery stores like Village Grocer and Jaya Grocer outlets or B.I.G Supermarket.

I decided to have some fun and thought that the smoky and salty duck breast would need something juicy and sweet with a little tang to match it. Then mango was in season and I thought why not pair this with mango salsa. It’s quite easy to prepare this dish and it makes really nice presentation for parties too. Best of all, the flavour is deliciously sublime. The salty smoke duck after being given a pan fried on its skin was still very juicy. The spicy, sweet and tangy mango salsa was refreshing and really lifted the smoked duck flavours to a fruity height. You can do this in advance if you are having a get-together or potluck as this one taste good hot or at room temperature for the duck.

Taste your mango salsa and adjust it to your likings. If you like spicy, add in more chili or LINGHAM Chili Extra Hot. Add more lime juice for more tang as well. I used LINGHAM Chili Sauce with Ginger for this and it really gave the salsa a robust hit of sweet and spicy flavour. Choose a ripe yellow mango for sweetness as the greener ones have a harder texture and taste more sour than fruity. Make sure to add in lots of onions and coriander to have a good kick to the salsa while the bell peppers are more for crunch and light sweetness.

If you can’t find smoked duck, seafood works beautifully with this mango salsa too. Try scallop or prawns, have them grilled or poached, they will taste great too with the fruity mango salsa.

Happy Cooking!

Smoked Duck Breast with LINGHAM’s Mango Salsa

Ingredients

1                  Smoked Duck Breast

2 tbsp           Cooking Oil

1                  Mango (ripe – dice into small cubes)

1 qtr             Red Bell Pepper (dice into small cubes)

1 qtr             Yellow Bell Pepper (dice into small cubes)

1 small          Red Onion (minced finely)

1                  Green or Red Chili (minced finely)

1                  Lime (zest and juice)

some            Coriander (chopped)

2 to 3 tbsp    LINGHAM’s Chili Ginger Sauce
                    Salt & Pepper to season

Method

After giving Smoked Duck Breast a rinse, pat it completely dry.

Heat up pan with cooking oil on medium heat.

Placed smoked duck breast skin side down into pan and let it cook slowly to crisp up the skin.

Smoked duck breast is already cooked so we just want the skin to be crispy and golden so it should take about 5 to 7 minutes. Flip to the meat side and cook for another 1 minute and remove from pan to cool.

To assemble the mango salsa, mix all the diced and minced ingredients of mango, red and yellow bell pepper, onion, chili, coriander, lime zest and juice and LINGHAM’s Chili Ginger Sauce.

Season with salt and pepper, add more lime juice and LINGHAM’s Chili Ginger Sauce to your taste.

Chill mango salsa till you are ready to serve as it taste better cold.

Slice smoked duck breast and served with mango salsa.

Extra Note & Tips

• If you cannot find smoked duck breast, regular duck breast will do but you will have to cook it longer till its cook.
• Substitute duck breast for prawns, squid, scallop or other shellfish. You can either grill or poached the seafood.
• Choose ripe mango for a fruity sweet flavour. Any varieties are fine as long as they are ripe and sweet.
• Adjust sourness and heat to your liking by adding more lime juice or chili.
• Mango salsa also works well with other LINGHAM Chili Sauce – Original, Thai, Extra Hot, Sriracha
• Mango salsa can be prepared few hours ahead and chilled in fridge, however not more than a day advance as it may turn watery.
• Smoked duck breast is available at major international grocery stores or at some of your local grocery stores. 

Bofe Eatery @ Section 19, Petaling Jaya

Food That Makes The World A Little Better!

It’s fun discovering new places to eat! Especially when these places serve good food at affordable prices. Bofe Eatery, a little café located along Section 19, off SS2 area (same row as Mungo Jerry), would not have been known to me if not for OffPeak.com. Bofe, short for Best of Everything, is the three owners’ ode in serving up what they deem to be their best offerings to diners.

The 1 year old café is quaint and cozy. Bofe’s interior is designed by the owners themselves. Adding comfort to industrial theme, the café is made more personal by the renderings of one of the owner’s murals on the walls. It is also filled with collectible paraphernalia and magazines. Diners can choose the regular table seating or the banquette seating made comfortable with plenty of cushions. Bofe’s first impression left me feeling relax and warm.

Bofe’s menu has a good mix of Asian and Western dishes. The dishes seemed quite straightforward and has a good selections of cold & hot entrees, pasta, meat, seafood, kids, desserts and drinks. Bofe also has a separate menu for Set Lunch with value-for-money lunch treats.

We chose De Stress (RM8) and Detoxifier (RM8) for drinks and was pleased with the options of the fruit juices.

From cold entrees, we had their Paprika Chicken Soba (RM8.90) and Duck Salad Wraps (RM8.90). Both dishes are somewhat simple and easy eats. The paprika seasoned chicken slice is decent and goes well with the soba, greens and cherry tomatoes in sesame dressing. The duck wrap is also decent with its duck and lettuce with a sweet plum sauce. I did wish for more duck but with that price, it’s not too bad.

Crispy Crab Bites (RM11.90) and Prawns & Mango Cup (RM11.90) from the hot entrees are superb! Enjoying crab without the hassle is already a plus point for me in the Crispy Crab Bites served with tomato chutney. The golden balls are filled with lots of crab meat with bits of vegetables. They are juicy, crispy and tasty, especially when dunked into that tomato chutney sauce.

The Prawns & Mango Cup is served in mini serving ware and is a sight filled with bright colors. The combination of prawns and sweet ripe mango worked out deliciously. The surprise here punchy sweet and spicy dressing sauce.

Goma Smoked Duck Breast (RM19.90) won our votes for one of the best duck dishes that we have eaten. Literally the star of the evening, it’s a dish to order if you love duck. The dish is also their best seller. Plump smoked duck is pan seared till it has a nice amber hued crisp skin. The smoked duck is then served with creamy soft mashed potatoes, side salad and nutty sesame sauce. The salty and smoky notes of the juicy duck is just so decadent in a savory way. It also went really well with the creamy aromatic sesame sauce. The dish is so good, we had a second order of this awesome duck!

Salted Egg Soft Shell Crab Pasta (RM21.90) is another luscious dish worth its weight in deliciousness. The sinful spicy salted egg cream sauce is what makes the dish utterly moreish. Silky rich strands of pasta with sauce and mushrooms topped with crispy battered soft shell crab is practically soul food.

A good hearty plate of Braised Lamb Shank (RM34.90) in tangy Moroccan tomato sauce with lots of root vegetable and zucchini served on creamy mashed summed up the dish. Though the meat is beautifully tender and moist, I felt that the tomato sauce could use a richer depth of flavours besides just tomato flavours. The thick sauce is a good base for the heavy lamb shank and paired decent with the mashed potatoes. It is also a good portion to share among two eaters.

Besides the a la carte Western dishes, Bofe serves a few Asian dishes for lunch sets like this Javanese influenced Rames Rice (RM19.90) set. Chicken marinated with spices is cooked ‘penyet’ style till crispy and smothered in spiced sauce and served with a host of turmeric buttery rice, tempe orek, emping crackers and sambal belachan. The chicken is succulent and tasty with all the blend of spices. I really enjoyed this dish together with the rice and the yummy condiments.

Peranakan Duck Set (RM19.90) had us savoring duck braised in Nyonya style savory 5-spice soy sauce served with rice, spring rolls, emping crackers and sambal belachan. The duck has a good tender but firm texture and is quite earthy in flavours from all the soy sauce and spices. The sambal belachan certainly kicked up the flavours of the duck well and I like the crunchy emping crackers with the dish, lending more local Asian influences to the dish.

The lunch sets at Bofe is value-for-money as all the dishes except for one are under RM20 and comes with drink and dessert.

Check out Bofe’s cake chillers for their daily choices of desserts as the dessert list changes on daily basis. We had Nutcracker (RM9.90) and Snickers Cheesecake (RM10.90) that evening. The Nutcracker is a nut based cake and is served warm with caramel and a pinch of salt on the side. The charming light and fluffy hazelnut cake with sweet and salty pairing is wondrously good and unique. The Snicker Cheesecake is decadent and chocolaty with chunks of toffee nutty snicker chunks. It is really rich so sharing is advisable for this one.

I had a Latte (RM8) that is very good with a beautiful balance of coffee and milk. Order a tea set of a slice of cake between 3pm to 6pm daily including weekends and enjoy a Latte at only RM1.50.

Bofe Eatery is a place made for good bites and drinks with affordable prices. The food here is dishes that certainly makes the world a little better, at least in my books. I like the uncomplicated dishes and the comfort flavours of them. Must-orders are Crispy Crab Bites, Goma Smoked Duck Breast, Salted Egg Soft Shell Crab Pasta and cakes…

BOFE EATERY

16, Jalan 19/36,

Seksyen 19,

46300 Petaling Jaya

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Bofe

Business Hours:

Tuesday to Thursday – 11.00am to 10pm

Friday – 11am to 11pm

Saturday – 9am to 11am

Sunday – 11am to 10pm

Closed on Mondays.

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Book now by downloading Offpeak.my App available on the App Store and Google Play, or visit our website www.offpeak.my or Facebook: www.facebook.com/offpeak.my

The Uma @ The Strand, Kota Damansara

Reminiscing Balinese Flavours!

I can hardly believe that it’s been four years since I have been to The Uma at The Strand in Kota Damansara. The first time I had a taste of Balinese cuisine was at The Uma and it had certainly left me so impressed with the flavours of the cuisine. In addition to its gorgeous flavours, The Uma serves pork in their menu, just like how it is in Bali.

The Uma is the heart and soul of owner and Chef Ho Yau Chan, who fell in love with the country after working there for 8 years. After returning back to Malaysia, he was still reminiscing about Bali and its culture and decided to pursue his dream of owning a restaurant. He wanted to share his amazing Balinese dining experience with the locals here hence The Uma was born.

Walking into The Uma, I was immediately reminded how beautiful the restaurant looks. Designed in theme to its rich Balinese heritage, The Uma has filled with many Balinese paraphilia. The ambience is soothing and almost romantic with its soft glow lighting and Balinese music in the background. There are two levels of dining with the upper one perfect for private functions. As Uma translate to paddy field, the upper level has wallpapers of endless beauty of paddy fields.

I was pretty excited as I vividly recalled my previous delicious experience here. The menu hasn’t changed much but I was told that Chef Ho has tweaked his recipes to near perfection over the years. We quickly ordered our drinks of Jus Apokat (RM10) and Minty Cucumber (RM9). Jus Apokat is avocado smoothie laced with chocolate while the Minty Cucumber is a vibrant concoction of cucumber juice, lime and mint. I love my Minty Cucumber because it’s so refreshing and kept my palate refresh from all the heavy flavours of the food to come.

Since there were only two of us, we decided to share some appetizers and main course. Sate Celeng Asem (RM14) is Assam Pork Satay that is so well marinated that it didn’t need any satay sauce. Skewers of pork with bits of crisp fat that amped up the umami flavour are beautifully grilled till tender and smoky. I can taste the spices in the pork and it is just enough to create a wonderful palate of flavours. It is definitely a dish you won’t want to miss.

We were also recommended the Urutan (RM15), a housemade fried pork sausage stuffed in pork intestine casing. Since I am gamed for most part of the hog, I knew I would enjoy this appetizer. The sausage has a delicate hint of spices. The outer skin is nicely crisp while the sausage meat is moist and tender. A side dark soy sauce packed with heat and sweetness is the perfect condiment for the sausage.

Nasi Ratus with Grilled Pork Rib (RM27) is the house signature and this is what everyone orders when they come to The Uma. Nasi Ratus is Balinese version of mixed rice and can be served with various main dishes. We choose grilled pork ribs because I vaguely remembered that I had it before and it was delish.

Besides grilled pork ribs, there are plenty of other main dishes that one can choose such as Babi Kecap Manis, Pork Rendang, Balinese Steamed Duck, Crispy Fried Duck, Balinese Grilled Chicken, Tuna Sambal Matah, Prawn with Coconut in Banana Leaf, Balinese Lamb Curry and more.

Our Grilled Pork Ribs are indeed as good as I had remembered. There is a nice crisp char and caramelized note on the ribs and yet the meat remained tender and moist. It has a good balance of savory and sweet with hints of spices. The ribs are just so tasty that you will want to make sure that you lick all your fingers and the ribs too. One can also order the ribs as a la carte.

The Nasi Ratus comes with lots of sidekicks. First up, Nasi Saur is pale turmeric tinted rice with coconut and black eye peas. The rice itself is light in flavours and is a good base for all the other stronger accompaniments. The rice came with Plecing Kangkung, Lawar Kacang, Kentang Goreng Bali, Be Siap Plalah and two sambals of Sambal Mbe and Sambal Tomat together with a skewer of Sate Lilit       . Plecing Kangkung is stir fried water spinach while Lawar Kacang is long bean salad with coconut and Kentang Goreng Bali is thin potato sticks deep fried till crispy and spiced up. Be Siap Plalah is shredded chicken salad with lime and chili dressing while the Sate Lilit is fish satay. What diners want to watch out is the two sambals that is guarantee to hit your taste bud and light it on fire. Sambal Mbe is crispy fried shallot mixed with chilies while Sambal Tomat is a tomato chili sambal with shrimp paste that rocks!

When you savor every condiment with the rice, it is a kaleidoscope of flavours! Super spick and shiok…

Since we had a grilled meat, we opted for Bebek Betutu or Balinese Steamed Duck (RM28) as a la carte. Surprisingly I had forgotten about this dish till I referred back to my old post and saw that I had also ordered this dish. This round, it looks a little different but the taste is vaguely familiar. A whole duck Maryland is steamed in spice stock for hours to achieve the tender falling apart duck it is famous for. It has strong robust and salty notes with a good hint of heat. I loved the aroma of the spices. The duck is nicely moist, tender and tasty. It may be a tad too salty eaten on its own but when savored with rice, the flavours are just spot on.

Nasi Kuning (RM3) is a side order because I wanted to try different rice. I enjoyed this one very much as it reminded me of our nasi lemak with its coconut cream.

I am really glad to be back at The Uma. Chef Ho showed that his passion for Balinese cuisine is still as strong as ever, in fact, he has devoted much time to keep improving the flavours of his dishes. We hope he introduces new dishes soon such as Babi Guling and more simply because we cannot get enough of the flavours of The Uma. If you want to try authentic Balinese cuisine, The Uma is the perfect place to start. And then there is the addition of serving pork at The Uma… need I say more? LOL…

THE UMA

7-G & 7-1, Jalan PJU 5/21,

The Strand, Kota Damansara

47810 Petaling Jaya

Tel: 03-6142 2771

GPS Coordinate:

N3 09.283 E101 35.541

Website: www.the-uma.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theumarestaurant

Business Hours:

Lunch 12:00 pm - 03:00 pm

Dinner         06:00 pm - 10:30 pm

Closed on Tuesdays

Book with Offpeak.my! Offpeak.my is an online platform that helps diners save money and time when booking great restaurants online. Once a restaurant is available in the Offpeak.my directory, you can simply book and enjoy unlimited discount on your favourite restaurant, every day, anytime. No more waiting for the right deal or coupon to come by. It’s easy to book and instantly confirmed.

Book now by downloading Offpeak.my App available on the App Store and Google Play, or visit our website www.offpeak.my or Facebook: www.facebook.com/offpeak.my