Units Scale

1 duck (preferred) or use 2 large boneless duck breasts, skin on
2 Preserved lemons
50g Pickled ginger
8 Pickled Chili peppers – I prefer peppadews
10 Pickled Chinese scallions (Allium Chinense) 藠头 If unavailable, use 20 pickled onions
20g Goosefruit (Randia cochinchinensis) 山黄皮 – this is pretty much unavailable in the U.S. – Japanese pickled plums, called Umeboshi, are my recommended replacement
Half a head of garlic
1 small piece ginger
15ml light soy sauce
10ml dark soy sauce
25ml Shaoxing rice wine (if you can’t find it, use dry sherry instead)
5 ml hot chili paste with garlic (TFD addition to recipe)
10ml oyster sauce
10g heavily sweetened osmanthus tea (original recipe used sugar)
Salt to taste
A touch of sesame oil (TFG addition)
A touch of hickory liquid smoke – I mean REALLY a touch here, too much will ruin the dish! (TFD addition)

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Chop duck into bite size pieces (on the bone) or slice into thick pieces if using boneless breasts.
Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the small piece of ginger and 15ml of the cooking wine. Add duck and blanch briefly. Drain and allow to dry.
Slice the pickled ginger, umeboshi and pickled peppers into slivers. Cut the Chinese scallions (or onions) in half. Cut the lemons, remove the flesh then slice the peel into thin slices. Peel the garlic but leave cloves whole.
Heat a dry wok. When medium hot add the duck and allow the fat to render out. Do not add oil unless absolutely necessary.
When the duck has taken on some color, add the pickled ginger, pickled chili peppers, pickled scallions/onions, goosefruit (or umeboshi) and garlic.
Stir fry until the duck is almost cooked through. Add the cooking wine, soy sauces, oyster sauce, hot chili paste, sesame oil, osmanthus tea and salt and continue to fry until the duck is fully cooked. If it’s drying out, add a little water, but the final dish should be fairly dry.
Finally add the preserved lemon and fry for one minute only, I’m told that it is essential not to cook the lemon any longer than a minute as long cooking can turn it bitter and the scent evaporates.
Serve immediately.