Green tea-smoked duck (hoji cha no kamo)

Chef Kenji Ito smokes duck with a fragrant hoji-cha green tea to create this special dish. The modern Japanese dish is served with a soy ponzu dipping sauce, which is citrus-based and available from Asian food shops.

• serves

  8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 60 ml (¼ cup) Japanese soy sauce 
• 80 ml mirin 
• 60 ml (¼ cup) cooking sake (see Note)
• 4 duck breasts 
• 3 tsp yuzu seasoning (see Note)
• 75 g white sugar 
• 25 g (½ cup) hoji-cha green tea (see Note)
• soy ponzu dipping sauce, to serve (optional)

Drink 2010 Bress Silver Chook Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley & Macedon ($22).

Marinating time 10 minutes

Resting time 10 minutes

Instructions

Combine soy, mirin and sake in a bowl. Add duck, toss to coat, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 10 minutes. Drain marinade and pat duck dry with paper towel. Season duck skin with yuzu seasoning.

Cover the base of a wok with 2 layers of heavy-duty foil. Scatter with sugar, then with green tea. Place a wire rack on top, ensuring rack doesn’t touch tea. Place duck, skin-side down, on rack, then cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until breast is cooked to rare.

Remove from heat and stand, covered, for 10 minutes or until cooked to medium-rare. Thinly slice and serve with soy ponzu dipping sauce, if desired.

Note

• Cooking sake is from Japanese food shops.

• Yuzu, a Japanese citrus, is readily available in its powdered form as a savoury seasoning from Japanese food shops. Substitute equal quantities of finely grated orange and lemon rind combined with 1 tsp sea salt.

• Hoji-cha is coarser than other green teas as it includes twigs and is parched to give it a slightly smoky flavour. • • Soy ponzu dipping sauce, a citrus-based sauce, is available from Asian food shops.

As seen in Feast magazine, Mar 2012, Issue 7. For more recipes and articles, pick up a copy of this month's Feast magazine or check out our great subscriptions offers here.

Photography by Scout Edwards (Whitewall).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.