Duck with Hair Vegetable

Courtesy of our friend, Jacqueline Newman

www.flavorandfortune.com

Ingredients:

1 three to four pound fresh Pekin Duck
1/4 cup light soy sauce
10 ounces hair vegetable, soaked in half cup boiling water for half an hour
2 quarts oil for deep frying
2 scallions, cut into two-inch pieces
4 slices ginger
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup chicken broth

1. Wash the duck well, cut open breast with the back of a cleaver until flattened. Then dry with paper towels and rub all over with half of the soy sauce.
2. Soak the hair seaweed for one hour in hot water. 3. Mix the wine, sugar, chicken broth, and set aside.
4. Heat a wok or fry pan, add two tablespoons of the oil and stir-fry the hair vegetable for one minute, drain and remove.
5. Fry the duck in the rest of the oil until golden brown or for about two minutes, drain and remove, and set the rest of the oil aside. To the duck, add the remainder of soy sauce, scallions, ginger, salt, and half cup of boiling water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for one hour. Remove the duck to a platter, add the hair vegetable, then return the duck to the pan. Add the sherry, sugar, and chicken broth mixture and simmer another hour.
6. Remove the duck to a platter and arrange hair vegetable around it. Thicken the gravy with cornstarch and pour it over the duck, then serve.