Curry Duck Recipe: Trini Style

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Trinidad curry duck is made with bone-in Muscovy duck pieces, local seasonings like chadon beni and fresh, hot peppers, and a unique Caribbean curry blend containing turmeric, coriander, cumin and chili powder.

Curry duck is a favorite for family get-togethers and fireside cooks by the river or beach and is served alongside curry chicken, dhalpuri, or buss-up-shut.

trini curry duck in white bowl

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Ingredients for Trinidad curry duck

Here are the ingredients I most often use for this curry duck recipe:

  • Muscovy duck: I usually purchase the duck at the local poultry shop or duck farm. There, the bird is often defeathered, roasted and chopped into smaller pieces.
  • flour or lime juice: this helps to remove any slime or smell from the meat.
  • Caribbean green seasoning: I have an entire post showing you how I make my own homemade green seasoning. I usually blend fresh chadon beni, Spanish thyme, garlic, chives and pepper together but you can make it your own. Or purchase seasoning from the store or on Amazon.
  • onion
  • garlic
  • ginger
  • curry powder: as I mentioned before, the curry powder used here is a local, Caribbean blend that contains spices like turmeric, coriander and cumin. There are local variations sold as duck and goat curry powder and Madras curry powder as well.
  • salt
  • oil
  • water
  • optional additions: coconut milk, more fresh pepper, freshly chopped herbs like chadon beni and cumin powder can also be added. For this recipe, I included cumin and chadon beni.

How to make Trini curry duck

Clean and season the duck

Step 1: Remove any feathers, skin, fat and slime from the pieces with a sharp knife. Rinse with water then coat the meat with either flour or lime juice. Rinse again to remove any smell from the duck.

Step 2: Once prepped, add your green seasoning (freshly made is the best), salt, pepper, and ginger.

Step 3: Leave the meat to marinate overnight. If you are in a time crunch, you should marinate the meat for at least three hours.

seasoned duck pieces with ginger

Sauté the onion, garlic and pepper

Step 4: Place a large pot on medium heat. Add oil and, when hot enough, add the chopped onion. Stir for a couple minutes until the onion becomes translucent. Next, add in garlic and pepper and cook for another minute or two.

saute aromatics for curry duck recipe

Cook the curry

Step 5: Add the curry powder to the cooked onion, garlic, pepper and oil. Stir continuously and patch for 2 to 5 minutes.

patch curry powder for curry duck

Step 6: Add water to the patched curry powder. Allow the liquid to become paste-like which takes about 10 minutes. Alternatively, in a separate bowl, you can mix the curry powder and water and add to the cooked onion, garlic and pepper. Doing this eliminates Step #5. I personally prefer patching the curry powder to make sure it’s fully cooked and won’t cause any upset tummies (which can happen with improperly cooked curry).

add water to patched curry and aromatics

Add the seasoned duck

Step 7: Add the seasoned duck once the curry has patched and cooked down. Be sure to mix and coat the meat with that thick curry paste.

add seasoned duck to curry paste

Step 8: Cover the pot and allow the meat to release its own natural liquid. You will want this liquid to boil off completely, otherwise you’ll get a ‘fresh’ taste from the meat. This can take about 20 minutes.

natural liquid released from duck

Step 9: Remove the cover after 20 minutes. Turn up the heat if necessary so the duck pieces are completely dry. This will take about 10 to 20 more minutes. Stir often as the liquid dries.

cook duck pieces until dry

Add seasonings and water

Step 10: Add the geera (cumin) powder at this point and patch with the meat for 2 minutes.

Step 11: Add water – about 4 cups should be sufficient. This water will give you a nice curry sauce to go with the meat. If you like extra sauce, add more water but if you prefer a drier side dish, 3 or 4 cups of water should be enough. Optional ingredients like coconut milk and extra fresh seasonings could be added at this point.

add water to cooked curry duck

Step 12: Partially cover the pot and allow to boil to your desired sauce thickness. This can take another 30 minutes. As it cooks, it darkens a bit. Serve hot.

close up of curry duck

Curry duck recipe

trini curry duck in white bowl
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Trinidad curry duck recipe

Curry duck is a popular side dish in T&T. It contains Muscovy duck pieces, seasoned with fresh seasoning, garlic, ginger and pepper and cooked in a unique Caribbean curry powder blend.
Prep Time3 hours
Cook Time1 hour 40 minutes
Total Time4 hours 40 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Caribbean
Keyword: curry, curry duck
Servings: 6
Calories: 1310kcal
Author: Ros Singh

Ingredients

Meat

  • 4 lbs Muscovy duck (defeathered, roasted, cleaned, cut up)
  • 2 tbsp flour or lime juice
  • 1/3 cup fresh green seasoning (chadon beni, chives, garlic)
  • 2 tbsp ginger (freshly grated)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • fresh pepper

Curry

  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion (chopped)
  • 2 cloves garlic (grated)
  • 3 tbsp Madras curry powder
  • 2 tsp geera (cumin) powder
  • cups water
  • 2 tbsp chadon beni leaves (chopped)
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • coconut milk (optional)

Instructions

Season meat

  • Remove any feathers, skin, fat, slime from duck pieces.
  • Wash the meat thoroughly.
  • Coat the meat with flour or lime juice.
  • Rinse the meat again.
  • Grind chadon beni, garlic, chives, pepper and any other preferred seasoning.
  • Mix the green seasoning with the duck meat.
  • Mix in salt, pepper, and grated ginger.
  • Cover the meat and refrigerate overnight (or at least three hours).

Make the curry

  • Place a large pot on medium heat.
  • Add vegetable oil and allow to heat up.
  • Saute onions until translucent.
  • Add in garlic and pepper.
  • Cook for another minute or two.
  • Mix in curry powder.
  • Stir often and patch for 2 – 5 minutes.
  • Add ¼ cup water to the patched curry.
  • Stir occasionally for 5 minutes.
  • Stir more continuously for another 5 minutes as the curry forms a dry paste.
  • Add seasoned duck pieces and additional salt.
  • Mix to coat the pieces with the dry curry paste.
  • Cover the pot and leave to cook for 20 minutes (the meat will spring its own liquid).
  • Remove the pot cover and cook for another 10 to 20 minutes until all the liquid has boiled off.
  • Stir often as the meat dries.
  • Add geera (cumin) powder.
  • Stir continuously as all the liquid has boiled off. Continue for 2 more minutes.
  • Add 4 cups water and optional ingredients like fresh seasoning and coconut milk.
  • Cover pot partially.
  • Cook until the sauce reaches your desired thickness (approx. 30 mins).
  • Serve hot.

One Comment

  1. 5 stars
    I use this recipe all the time. It’s so good and everyone keeps asking me to make curry duck for every lime we have.

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