Braised Duck - Teochew style

Based on this recipe:
http://ieatishootipost.sg/teochew-braised-duck-recipe/

The simplest recipe that I found:
1 Duck
Cinnamon sticks 5
Dried chillies 2
Star anise 5
Blue ginger (galangal) 7 slices
Garlic 7 cloves
Dark Soy Sauce 350ml
2 Tbsp white sugar

I marinated the 2kg duck with some salt for a whole day in the fridge, more out of timing necessity than anything else. Then, blanched the duck with hot boiling water twice. In case the gamey smell would be too strong. Actually, this turned out to be unfounded, just as written in the blog - Mr Teo, the head chef who gave the recipe didn't do any other prep except to put the duck into the sauce. This is because after about 45mins to an hour of braising, the sauce and duck smell had melded into a fragrant mix, not gamey at all. It smelt of galangal, cinnamon and star anise.

I also added a piece of dried mandarin orange peel and little piece of old ginger. But these flavours had disappeared in the mix.

First half hour of braising. Turning ...

The Tai Hwa superior dark soy sauce packaging is now 640ml. So, about half a bottle went into the wok and a lot of water. After the initial 2 bowls, I must have added 5-6 bowls more of water. Tasted the sauce but didn't adjust much - just a touch more of dark soya sauce and another teaspoon of sugar.

Almost ready ...

The duck was very soft after 1.5 hours of braising. Maybe it was ready after 1 hour. Should have checked the softness level earlier. Or reduced the flame to a slower braise. The duck wings disintegrated. The webbed feet were nice and soft, though. Overall, the taste of the soft duck was very good.

After 1.5 hours, the duck was very soft. Challenge to cut.

Put some of the duck gravy in a pot and added 2 pieces of tofu and 1 packet of tofu puffs. Slow flame for 15-20 mins. Didn't need to add anything else, all the flavour of the duck gravy was absorbed by the tofu.

Took the duck gravy to cook tofu & tofu puffs. And also flavour the yam rice.

The yam rice was intentionally made with less sauce than usual, in order to reduce the overall saltiness of the meal. There was plenty of duck gravy to add according to one's taste.

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