Li’s Kitchen: Tantalizing duck with Cantonese red bean curds

In China, people believe that early spring is the best time to eat ducks in a year.

Recently, Li has been taking his daily calorie intake seriously in order to keep fit.

However, he soon finds out that hunger and appetite are not something that can be easily suppressed. Hunger almost drives him crazy.

He doesn’t want to be over-rationalized. To him, life would ultimately lose its meaning without desire and temptation.

To satisfy his own cravings, Li decides to cook a giant and fat duck.

 He says he has to thank a number of recipes online and from cookbooks, and more importantly, those “secret condiments”.   

Bellow are the steps to prepare this tantalizing dish:

1. Heat a pan and stir-fry the chopped duck pieces until golden-brown without adding oil. The purpose of this step is to reduce the poultry smell of duck meat.

2. Add gingers, spring onions, garlics, tsao-kos, anises and Sichuan peppers.

3. Pour some Cantonese styled red bean curds, Sichuan chili bean paste, and Puning bean paste into the pan and keep frying them with the duck.

4. Add a can of beer and turn the heat down to medium.

5. Leave the duck to simmer with beer for a while.

6. Sprinkle some dried chili peppers and sesame seeds on top, and then stir-fry another 5 to 6 minutes before serving.

 This dish apparently has to be enjoyed with iced beer. What you can taste are tender and luscious duck meat with a strong flavor of spices.

 As humans, we always need to be comforted by one way or another.  A scrumptious meal might be the key to keep yourself healthy, both physically and mentally.

Writing by Li Wenjun; trans-editing by Wang Jingzhong