Duck breast fritters with Basmati rice and roast peaches

If you wish to serve another vegetable,  cabbage, lightly poached in butter and seasoned with nutmeg, goes very well with this dish.

Serves 4

The duck:
4 free-range duck breasts
2 tablespoons/30 ml shoa xing rice wine (available at Asian supermarkets)
1 tablespoon/15 ml szechuan pepper, ground (available at Asian supermarkets)
1 clove garlic, minced
salt
flour for sprinkling
2 free-range eggs, whisked
Japanese breadcrumbs (Panko breadcrumbs)
oil for deep-frying

The peaches:
1 tablespoon/15 ml sugar
1 tablespoon/15 ml butter
4 ripe peaches, stoned and quartered (use canned peaches if fresh ones are unavailable but cut down on the sugar)
2 cloves, ground
2 tablespoons/30 ml Peach Schnapps

The rice:
450 g/15.8 oz Basmati rice
4 cups/1 liter chicken stock
75 g/2.6 oz butter
salt

The garnish:
2 tablespoons/30 ml orange zest, grated
2 tablespoons/30 ml fresh chives, chopped

Score the breasts on the fat side with 2 cm/0.8 in space between each cut. Mix the rice wine, pepper, garlic and salt and rub onto the breasts on both sides. Set aside in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

When ready to cook, wipe most of the marinade of the breasts, heat a non-stick pan and sear the breasts on the fat side only, until crispy (about 3 minutes). Remove the breasts from the pan and set aside to cool. Store the rendered fat in a container for another time to fry potatoes, etc.

When the meat has rested for at least ½ hour (it will be quite raw still), slice the meat into 4 thick slices across. Place each slice of breast between two pieces of cling film and with a mallet, flatten the meat until about 15 mm/1 in) thick.

Sprinkle each slice with flour, then dip it in the egg and finally coat with the breadcrumbs. Heat the oil in a large saucepan,  fry the crumbed slices in the hot oil until crispy — not longer than 30 seconds on each side. Remove from the pan and let drain on kitchen paper.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt the sugar and butter and saute the peach quarters in it for about 1 minute on each side, de-glaze with the schnapps, sprinkle over the ground cloves and let simmer for another 2 minutes or until just tender.

Add the rice, salt and chicken stock to a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil, lower the heat, then cover with a tightly-fitting lid. Cook for 15-20 minutes then turn off the heat and leave the rice to stand, still covered, until about 5 minutes before serving. When ready to serve,add the butter and fluff up the rice with a fork.

To serve:
On each heated serving plate, spoon some rice and stack four duck breast fritters on top.  Divide the peaches and place around the rice and drizzle some of the peach juices over.