Chao is a popular winter warmer and can also be made with fish or chicken. If you don’t have time to roast your own duck, purchase a Peking duck from your local Asian restaurant.
6 red Asian shallots
4 cm knob of ginger
1 cup long-grain rice
oil or duck fat, for frying
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cm knob of ginger, extra, cut into thin strips
4 spring onions, sliced
½ handful holy basil leaves, chopped
½ handful perilla leaves, chopped
4 saw tooth herb stems
Remove all the meat from the duck, cut into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
Use a meat cleaver to chop the duck bones into pieces. Put the bones in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Slowly bring to the boil over medium heat, removing any scum that rises to the surface. Meanwhile, put the shallots and ginger into a mortar and coarsely crush them with a pestle. Add the shallots and ginger to the stock and simmer gently for 2 hours. Strain the stock and discard the duck bones and aromatics.
Meanwhile, put the rice in a dry frying pan and cook for 2–4 minutes, or until lightly golden. Transfer to a food processor and process for 5 seconds.
Pour 1 litre of the stock into a clean saucepan and bring to the boil. In another saucepan, heat a little oil or duck fat over medium heat and fry the rice for 2–3 minutes, or until the grains start to look transparent. Pour in the boiling stock, then stir in the fish sauce, sugar, salt and black pepper. Reduce the heat and gently simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often.
Stir the duck meat and the extra ginger into the rice and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. Remove from the heat and stir in the spring onion and herbs.
Spoon the rice porridge into six bowls and sprinkle with extra black pepper, if desired. Serve accompanied by the dipping sauce.
