Gluten-Free Duck Fried Rice
The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is such a blur, isn’t it? I often have no idea what day of the week it is, or even the time of day due to the fact that I am sometimes still in pajamas at 3 PM. Is it time for coffee or a cocktail? What’s for dinner? Breakfast? Lunch? If you ever have leftover duck laying around I highly recommend this gluten-free duck fried rice!
Often times I find myself foraging in the fridge through piles of leftovers, eating cold creamed spinach for breakfast for example (it tastes better than you think), or swiping a Christmas cookie or the last square of fudge for lunch. I’m not exactly the picture of health during this week, but I suppose that is true for most of us.
But sometimes I can muster enough energy to transform the holiday leftovers into something really spectacular. And fried rice is one of the easiest and most delicious ways to do that.
We have always roasted a duck during December to celebrate one of my kids’ birthdays. It’s a tradition I look forward to, and one that has always seemed odd and impressive to our friends. I mean, what kind of kid likes duck? Mine, and he has since he was little. Eventually we morphed from roasting whole ducks to roasting duck legs and thighs in a mock confit style. The meat is succulent and tender this way, and the rendered fat, about two jam jars full, I use over the next several months for roasting potatoes and other root vegetables mostly.
Duck fat makes everything taste better and fried rice is no exception. Once I met a group of gluten-free friends for dinner at a fancy restaurant in Los Angeles. They had duck fried rice as an appetizer and we were STOKED to learn it was gluten-free. I mean, it was supposed to be gluten-free, and sadly we all discovered the next day that it was not. Ouch. But it was damn delicious stuff. Ever since then I love to make it at home whenever we have leftover duck, sans the gluten, obviously.
This recipe obviously requires leftover duck and this recipe is what I used this year for the duck confit (highly recommend BTW). If you don’t want to make your own, many specialty food markets have prepared, packaged duck confit in the cheese/deli section. Lucky you.
Here is my iteration of a most scrumptious duck fried rice. Yes, use the fish sauce. It’s not overly fishy and it adds just the right amount of umami. I love the Red Boat brand best, and it’s worth the splurge.
How do you use up your leftovers?
- 4 tablespoons duck fat, divided
- 1 cup of mixed, chopped vegetables like broccoli, snap peas, cabbage, bell pepper, mushrooms etc.
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 cups of cold, leftover rice
- 1 cup of cooked, shredded duck meat
- 1 tablespoon of gluten-free tamari sauce
- 1 tablespoon of gluten-free fish sauce
- 4 green onions, julienned
- Melt one tablespoons in a hot wok or large skillet on high heat. Add the veggies and stir fry until just tender. Remove from the pan and set aside
- Add another tablespoon of the duck fat to the wok and add the eggs. Stir fry until just set and remove from the pan and add to the veggies.
- Add the remaining two tablespoons of duck fat to the wok. Add the rice and stir fry until the rice is hot. Add the duck to the wok and continue to stir fry until the duck is hot and the rice is getting slightly crisp on the edges.
- Return the veggies and eggs to the wok and toss to combine. Stir in the tamari and fish sauce. Taste for seasoning and add more tamari or fish sauce if desired. Top with julienned green onions and serve immediately.
