North Indian Duck Curry

A very mild and delicate curry
– Make a paste in the blender with two tomatoes, a few garlic cloves and a lump of fresh ginger.
– Chop a sweet potato into bite sized chunks and boil for 5 minutes until just tender.
– Fry an onion in some ghee (clarified butter, if you can’t get some use cooking oil) until soft and add some crushed cardamom pods, peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon. Add a few curry leaves (or bay leaves), some ground coriander and cumin.
– Add the tomato mixture and some whole duck thighs (remove the skin first).
– Add a little water, cover and simmer for 50 minutes until the duck is well cooked.
– Remove the lid and boil on a high heat to reduce and thicken the sauce if necessary.

– Add a large handful of chopped dried fruit, prunes are best but dried apricots are also good.
– Heat through and add a little cream. Garnish with fresh coriander.

Usually you would serve this with rice but, to make a change, I accompanied this dish with spicy roast potatoes and carrots:
– Boil some potatoes and carrots, cut into large bite sized pieces.
– Drain the vegetables and toss them in a mixture of ground spices (I use chilli, coriander and turmeric) and polenta grains (this makes them nice and crispy on the outside).
– Heat some oil in an oven pan, lay the vegetables in the pan, make sure they are coated with oil.
– Cook in a hot oven for 45-50 minutes until golden brown.