Mango Jam #noPectin

It has been a while since I last posted a recipe on the G'Gina's Kitchenette. You know what they say, 'When life hands you lemons make lemonade!( or in this case use it as a part of your Jam - I know PJ)' But what do you do when it hands you death, accident, unwanted troubles and family and friends' health issues?

Well not to burden you with the details but I have had quite a few check in on me..I lost my Dad-in-law in July and have had some issues with family health. Also an unfortunate accident happened, one that I will learn from. I had once lost all hope. But I trust God will bring peace and favour to us.

Crispy Roast Duck with Sticky, Sweet n Spicy Glaze

As promised, I am back with another Roast for your big Christmas meal. With Christmas around the corner, schools too are gearing up towards their Track Events(Sports Meet), Christmas celebrations, Carolling, etc. And this just means Mama has to be on her toes.

My little girl had a successful track event yesterday where she bagged a prize 'medal' in the school track event. So hence the delay in posting this roast recipe. I am going to try and get you as many roast recipes before Christmas week hopefully if all goes well on the home front.

This recipe was created after reviewing several recipes. It took a while but the resultant Roast Duck was flavoursome and fabulous and was out of some sheer experimentation. Yes this time too I tried for a Jamie Oliver recipe. In fact I saw far too many including Jamie's many duck recipes and then settled to take some tips from Jamie and have a twist of my own based on my Chicken roast success to have a crispy, succulent duck roast. It helps to experiment in the kitchen before hand so you come up with some unexpected savoury/sweet sauces.

It pleasantly surprised me to see such a proud and pretty duck roast coming out of my oven.

Without taking up more time, let me give you the recipe..

You need:

For the duck:

• 1.7 kgs duck, cleaned well-free of quills and dressed (skin-on)
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp of five-spice powder (or if you do not have this: mixture of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, pepper and fennel seeds)
• 1 medium sized orange
• 2-3 bay leaves

For the glaze:

• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• 1/8 cup of honey
• 1/8 cup molasses or palm jaggery
• 2 tbsp of orange juice
• 1 tbsp of your choice of chili sauce (optional)

The Make:
Preparation Time:10 minutes |  Roasting Time: up to 4 hrs, 17 minutes | Serves:5-6 adults

1. Make sure your well-cleaned duck is patted dry. Then with a kitchen blade or the tip of your sharp kitchen knife, make criss-crosses on the skin of the duck (try the diamond pattern), taking care not to delve into the meat of the duck.This will ensure that the fat escapes through the cuts created on the skin and the more the fat escapes, the more crispier the duck skin would turn.
2. Rub the salt, black pepper and five spice on the duck. Cut the orange in quarters and stuff it in the cavity of the duck along with the bay leaves. Truss the legs crossed with a kitchen twine or butcher's twine. Tuck the wings under the duck.
3. Set the oven to 150°C and set the duck on a wire rack with a roasting pan below to hold the glorious duck fat. Roast the duck for an hour. When 1 hour is done, take it out and poke the skin of the duck especially the legs which has more fat content, taking care not to hit the meat.
4. Flip the bird carefully on its breast facing downwards. Cook for another hour at 150°C.
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 once more on 150°C. At the fourth hour, prepare the glaze.
6. After the fourth hour, tip the fat off the roasting tray into a storing jar. You need to do this now to ensure that the glaze does not get into the fat.
7.Next turn breast side up, poke, flip and roast at 200°C for 10 minutes. This is to allow for some extra crisping up.
8. Brush with the glaze and roast at 200°C for another 5-7 minutes. Keep a close eye on it to avoid burning.
9. Rest for about 10 minutes, carve and serve hot.

Sticky, Sweet and Spicy Glaze:
1. In a wok, take all of the ingredients required for the glaze and mix well on simmer.
2. Once the glaze thickens over the flame, turn off and use the glaze to coat the duck with a oil brush.

Bon Appetit! I served the Duck with my Easy make Dinner bread rolls and Crunchy Rosemary and Honey Soda bread.

Note/Tip:
1. Any excess skin can be cut off and trimmed and used to render and reserve the duck fat. Try not to take off too much of the excess skin which can be used to keep the duck moist.
2. Flipping the bird on to the breast will ensure that the breast remains soft as the juices flow to the center.
3. In case the glaze turns cools down and becomes too thick to coat the duck, then slightly heat up on the stove and it will liquify right away.

Asian inspired Snake gourd

This recipe has been a repeated experiment for quite a while now and I have the ingredients experimented across a variety of veggies but most commonly for the humble bitter gourd. This time I tried it with snake gourd.

It was an excellent accompaniment to the Keralite spicy fish curry and rice. Yum!

You need:

• 500 gms of snake gourd, thinly sliced
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsp of jaggery
• 1 tbsp of black sesame seeds (you can use the white, split ones as well)
• Oil to drizzle
• 1 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tbsp of pepper powder
• 1 tbsp of ginger-garlic-chili sauce or you could just add a tbsp of ginger-garlic paste and a sprinkle of crushed, dried red chili

The Make:
Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 15-20 minutes | Serves 2 adults

1. In a non-stick pan, add a drizzle of oil, toss in the snake gourd, salt and saute well.
2. Next add in the mixture of jaggery, black sesame seeds, soya sauce, pepper powder and the ginger-garlic sauce/paste.
3. Saute well  and cover and cook for about 20 minutes.
4. The resultant snake gourd would be sticky, sweet and somewhat crunchy. Serve hot on the side of rice and spicy fish curry.

Bon Appetit!