Duckstrami with Smashed Cucumbers. To serve, slice the duck breasts. Place the cucumbers on a serving platter and top with the duck. Smashed cucumbers release different flavor compounds.

Place on a work surface and pound with a flat object (like a meat pounder) until. Sam and Shauna prepared a dish of duckstrami with some smashed cucumbers and jasmine rice earlier on in the show. However, after plating up, they slid the meal over to Matt but he immediately called out what they had just done. You can have Duckstrami with Smashed Cucumbers using 16 ingredients and 3 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Duckstrami with Smashed Cucumbers

Prepare 2 of duck breasts, skin on.
You need 20 of g/¾oz fine sea salt.
Prepare 2 tsp of soft dark brown sugar.
You need 1 tbsp of garlic powder.
Prepare 4 of juniper berries, ground.
Prepare 2 of bay leaves, finely crushed.
It's 2 tsp of ground coriander.
It's 1 tsp of paprika.
You need 1 tsp of mixed spice.
Prepare 1 tsp of cracked black pepper.
You need 4 of spring onions, trimmed and cut diagonally, to garnish.
Prepare of steamed jasmine or long-grain rice, to serve.
You need of for the rub.
It's 2 tsp of coriander seeds, toasted and crushed.
It's 2 tsp of cracked black pepper.
Prepare of vegetable oil, for brushing.

The smashing process, a classic Chinese technique, cracks the skin, helps release the seeds and splits the flesh into appealing craggy pieces. Cut each piece in half lengthwise. On a work surface, place a piece of. Smashed cucumbers, or pai huang gua, is a Sichuan dish that is typically served with rich, spicy food.

Duckstrami with Smashed Cucumbers step by step

To make the duck, score the duck skin in a crosshatch pattern. Combine all of the remaining ingredients in a bowl and rub all over the duck. Place in the fridge for 24 hours..
To make the pastrami rub, mix together the coriander seeds and pepper. Remove the duck from the fridge, take out of the bowl, wash off and pat dry with kitchen towels. Brush the meat side of the duck with a little vegetable oil and generously apply half of the pastrami rub. Heat a dry frying pan over a medium–hot heat, cook the duck skin-side down for 3 minutes and then sear the other side for 2 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Leave to rest..
To serve, slice the duck breasts, Garnish with the spring onions and remaining pastrami rub and serve with the steamed rice.

We started with English cucumbers, which are nearly seedless and have thin, crisp skins. Placing them in a zipper-lock bag and smashing them into large, irregular pieces sped up a salting step that helped. No meal is complete without a dish of cold, vinegary vegetables, whether it's turnip, cabbage, peanuts, or cucumbers. Think of them as a palate cleanser between bites of the heavier stuff. Sichuan-style smashed cucumbers are the simplest example of one of these dishes, and coincidentally my favorite.