The first time I tasted this dish was about 17 years ago, at this restaurant in Hong Kong called Yellow Door. My investment banker brought me there, and I remember he had to make an appointment more than a month in advance in order to get us our seating.
Full of expectation, I was surprised when I was brought to a shabby block of apartment. Very dim lights, no lift. We had to climb, I think, 4 storeys to reach the restaurant.
We were scheduled for the 8 o’clock seating, and on the way up, the diners from the 6 o’clock seating were climbing down. They assured us it was worth the climb.
I’ve never been to a more run down restaurant in my life (yes, to date), but neither has any restaurant left such an impression. I’ve never been back, simply because my visits to Hong Kong are often short and planned last minutes. I could never be able to pre-book so far ahead.
But I brought back memories of this dish, which I try to do in my own way. In those days, there was not phone cameras, so it is a pity. I didn’t have any photograph of the food. Otherwise, I would have done it closer to their version.
In any case, this is a wonderful dish. And the ingredients are so good, there’s little imagination left to do it well. 🙂 Just make sure the glutinous rice is cooked!
Eight Treasure Duck
Ingredients
- 1 Duck
- 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
Stuffing
- 1 cup glutinous rice soaked for at least 2 hours
- A handful of winter mushroom or shitake mushroom or any mushroom diced
- 2 Chinese sausages or lup cheong
- 1 slice bacon
- 1-2 salted duck egg yolk
- A handful of ginko nuts
- A handful of lotus seeds
- Chopped onions
- Any kind of nuts dried goods that you might like
Seasoning for the stuffing
- 1 Tbsp brandy or Chinese wine
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp chicken powder
- 1/2 cup of water
Topping
- 1 tsp corn flour mixed with 3 Tbsp room temperature water this is the corn flour mixture
Instructions
Fry the Duck
- Clean the duck and then rub it with the dark soya sauce and sesame oil.
- Leave it aside for about 1 hour.
- Fry the duck in a deep pan, that can hold enough oil to immerse hal the duck in.
- Turn over by using a towel holding the neck of the duck. Do not use a fork or tongs.
- Fry till dark brown (the pictures here are too light)
Stuffing
- Mix all the ingredients for the stuffing and fry it for 20 minutes, until the rice is almost cooked.
- Split the duck open bigger to fill it with the stuffing.
- Stuff the duck with the stuffing.
- Put the extra stuffing into a bowl to steam as well.
Cooking
- Place the duck into a big bowl and steam the duck and the extra stuffing at high heat for at least 50 minutes.
- There will be a lot of gravy from the duck. Remove that, put it into a pan and add the corn flour mixture to bring to a boil.
- Pour this over the duck.
- Serve with the extra stuffing.
