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grilled duck breast, popped sorghum, collard greens and spices on a black plate

Grilled Suya Duck Breast Bowl

African food bowl concept made w/ Suya spiced grilled duck breast, fried collard greens, popped sorghum grain, & a cherry egusi sauce.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: African
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 918kcal
Author: Marwin Brown

Ingredients

For the Duck Breast

  • 2 8 oz Duck Breasts
  • 2 cups Peanuts unsalted
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
  • 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
  • ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • ¼ teaspoon Ground Ginger
  • ½ teaspoon Onion Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
  • ¼ cup Canola Oil

For the Cherry-Egusi Sauce

  • 1 cup Fresh or Frozen Cherries de-pitted
  • 2 tablespoons Egusi Melon Seeds
  • 2 medium Shallots peeled
  • 1 whole Scotch Bonnet Pepper substitute Habanero if unavailable, deseeded and deveined
  • ¼ cup Culantro substitute Cilantro if unavailable, roughly chopped
  • 14 oz Fire Roasted Tomatoes
  • 1 small Lime juiced
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • ½ teaspoon Pepper
  • 3 cloves Garlic roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil

For the Fried Collard Greens

  • 1 bunch Fresh Collard Greens de-stemmed and roughly chopped
  • Canola Oil for frying

For the Popped Sorghum

  • ½ cup Sorghum
  • 1 tablespoon Canola Oil

For the Liberation Spice Mix

  • 1 teaspoon Aleppo Pepper
  • ½ teaspoon Dried Cilantro
  • ½ teaspoon Urfa Chili Flakes
  • ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt

Instructions

Make the Suya Duck

  • Place the peanuts into a food processor. Pulse until coarsely ground. Remove ground peanuts to a medium bowl and add all the spices. Mix well then add the oil to create a paste.
  • Score the skin side of the duck breast with a sharp knife. Either diamond shapes or straight lines work. You're only trying to cut the skin so avoid cutting too deep.
  • Place the breast in a large ziplock bag or bowl. Add the suya mixture and marinate in your fridge for at least an hour.
  • Fire up your grill and set it up for direct heat grilling. You'll want a hot fire (400-450 degrees). Clean and oil your grates using an oil-stained and folded paper towel.
  • Set a cast-iron skillet directly on your grill grates and allow to heat. Once your skillet is hot brush a little oil onto the surface. Add the duck breast skin side down and grill with the lid closed for 4-5 minutes.
  • Flip the duck breast and place it directly on the grates. Cook for 2-3 minutes more and check for doneness.

Make the Sauce

  • Add all the ingredients to a food processor. Pulse to desired consistency. I prefer the consistency of a smooth salsa. Set aside.
  • Make the Fried Collard Greens
  • Preheat a deep fryer to 325 degrees. Add chopped collard leaves to the fryer and cook for 2 minutes. Remove to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, season with spice mix, and let rest.

Make the Popped Sorghum

  • Pre-heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil and coat the bottom of the pan thoroughly. Add half of the sorghum; cook about 1 minute or until sorghum popping slows, stirring constantly. Sorghum doesn't pop like corn. They're much smaller and unlikely to pop out of an uncovered pot assuming you're using a dutch oven.
  • Reduce heat to medium-low, and continue cooking 1 minute or until as much sorghum pops as possible, stirring constantly.
  • Remove the popped sorghum from the pan and repeat with the remaining sorghum. Season with the spice mix. Set aside.

Video

Notes

The cast-iron skillet is perfect for getting a really good sear, particularly on the skin side. This results in super crispy skin that you will love. By finishing the duck directly on the grates after the flip you get a tender and juicy duck internally.
If available to you add some cherry wood chips to your grilling to provide that deep and smoky cherry flavor that goes so well with duck. If using chips then soak them in water first.
You can cook the duck indoors as well right on the stovetop. A cast-iron skillet or indoor grill pan works great for this.
For the suya spice, I use unsalted peanuts since the dry spice mix calls for kosher salt. Using salted peanuts just adds more salt, to the point the dish becomes too salty.
Suya spice can be as hot or as mild as you make it. The key will be the ratio of cayenne pepper to brown sugar you go with. It's totally a personal preference thing. The ingredient ratio used in the recipe is fairly balanced so this isn't an overly hot version.
To keep things simple, I used canola oil throughout the recipe where oil is called for. So I fried the collard greens in canola, marinated the duck breast using canola, and even popped the sorghum in canola.
For the sauce I used frozen cherries and just thawed them out. This was strictly a cost-value thing as I buy the big Costco size frozen bag for my daily smoothies. If using fresh cherries, then make sure you remove the pits.
Egusi seeds aren't available in most mainstream grocery stores, but you'll likely find them in stores that serve African and possibly Caribbean ingredients. Otherwise, just order online.
I served all the ingredients in a deconstructed bowl, but feel free to serve them in a more traditional bowl structure - protein + grain + vegetables + sauce in a single bowl. For my traditional bowl I actually changed up the sorghum and cooked the grain in equal parts coconut milk and water vs. popped.

Nutrition

Calories: 918kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 68g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 20g | Monounsaturated Fat: 34g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 1398mg | Potassium: 1157mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 3446IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 258mg | Iron: 9mg
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