How to Cook Duck Moile (Curry)

East Indian Duck Moile is a traditional dish that is full of flavour. Tender and juicy slow-cooked duck meat is served with rice, foogias, hand breads, or chitaps, and a cooling salad for the perfect meal!

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Have you ever wondered how to season and cook duck meat? It can get tricky because if it’s not cooked properly or overcooked, you would be left with a duck that is tough and dry. Why don’t you try our Duck Moilee recipe? It is a traditional East Indian recipe that is delicious and often eaten for Easter lunch or Christmas celebrations.

We East Indians as you know, go all out with food when it comes to any special occasions and also Christmas and Easter table spreads. The duck moile is a flavourful and wonderful duck curry that’s almost always added to the Christmas or Easter menu.

Once upon a time in the good old days, ducks were more easily available as we had our own farms and bungalows with coops or pens for chickens and ducks as well as homegrown pigs. I remember Mom reminiscing about how she used to feed the little piglings with a milk bottle in her youth. Anyway, back to the ducks. These days, ducks are only available around Christmas or Easter in Mumbai. Otherwise, you have to specially request for them.

But yes, duck meat is really tasty, and you can make some really good dishes with them, one of which is this traditional East Indian recipe for Duck Moilee. Now every family has its own special recipe for the duck moile, and different spellings too. Some say duck moile, some say duck moilee – you know puh-tay-toh puh-tah-toh, tom-ay-toh tom-ah-toh. It still tastes ducking delicious! Here’s how we make the duck moilee curry at home!

What Ingredients Do You Need To Make Duck Moilee?

In order to make our duck moile curry, first and foremost, you need a duck. Obviously! Then you also need salt, ghee, sugar, vinegar or wine, onions, ginger, chilies, and garlic, bottle masala, and also garam masala.

What is garam masala? It’s a spice mix made of a handful of ingredients. Our garam masala is made of cinnamon powder, ground cloves, ground pepper, nutmeg powder, and cardamom powder.

How To Make Duck Moilee?

The spicy duck meat curry (East Indian style) may look difficult, but if you follow our instructions, it’s easy to make. If your duck has been frozen, keep it out of the freezer and allow it to thaw for a while. If you’re using fresh duck, let’s get straight to it.

Cut into fairly large or medium pieces. You can always ask the store you get it from to cut the pieces as you like. Wash the duck pieces a few times with a mixture of water and a little vinegar and drain the water when you finish. This will get rid of any blood, grit and grains.

Put the pieces of duck meat in a kadai or deep vessel, add salt, and allow it to cook. We use every part, including the offal – liver, stomach, heart, and lungs. Don’t add water! The duck will release water. Cook the duck until all this water has evaporated or is absorbed back into the duck meat.

Then add a few tablespoons of ghee and fry the meat until it is nearly browned. Add sugar and cook till it melts. Once done, remove the meat pieces into another vessel and keep them aside for a while.

Cut the onions into rings and ginger, garlic, and green chilies into small strips.

Add the onions to the ghee in the same vessel you used for the duck and fry till they are soft and translucent.

Add the rest of the cut ingredients; the garlic, ginger, and green chilies, and fry for about half a minute.

Then add the bottle masala and fry gently adding a little water till the masala is nicely fried and smells good. Instead of adding water, what we do is add wine, this gives it a bit more flavour. You can use any homemade wine or storebought wine. We use sis’s dhal from the ginger wine, currant wine, grape wine, or literally any wine she makes.

Add more water or wine depending on how tender you want the bird, and when it starts to boil add the duck pieces back to this vessel, cover with a lid and cook gently.

When the meat is cooked, add a little more vinegar or wine and let it simmer till the grease floats at the top of the vessel. Then lastly, add in the garam masala.

Stir it in and let it cook on slow heat for a while longer. And that’s it, your duck moile is ready to eat! Doesn’t it look delicious? My sis loves the natural oils from the duck. Sometimes we collect it and use it to fry eggs, other times we just enjoy the duck oil along with the moile curry. You know, natural fats being good for you and all that.

Serve with a fresh salad or some sliced onions and lemon. Foogias to soak up the gravy or tasty chitaps or white rice turns it into the perfect meal.

Cooking Tips & Tricks

• Female ducks are somehow tastier and plumper than male ducks, so try to get a female duck.
• Cut the onions, ginger, garlic, and green chilies before you start cooking the duck. Or while it’s browning.
• You can use wine instead of vinegar when cooking this moile curry. This adds more flavour.
• Add fried potatoes if you like, after you finish cooking the duck. When we add them, we do it while adding the bottle masala.  
• This recipe can also be made with chicken, ox tongue or beef (buffalo in Maharashtra).
• Always tastes best the next day!
• Serve with foogias, chitaps, or plain rice.
• Other recipes you might try are kasuri methi, chicken tope, mustard chicken, chicken soup, giblet stuffing, and chicken gizzard.

FAQ’s About Duck Moile

Is Duck Difficult To Cook?

No, duck is not difficult to cook. In fact, duck easy and quick to cook as the meat itself is quite lean and the layer of fat beneath the skin dissolves nicely when cooked well.

How To Cook Duck To Make Moile?

To know how to cook duck moile, read our recipe given above. All you have to do is cook the duck in its own juices with salt, then add ghee, sugar, vinegar or wine, the fresh green masalas, and cook again till it is ready. It’s really simple and easy.

How Is Duck Best Cooked?

Duck meat taste’s best when it is slow-cooked till the meat is tender and juicy.

How Long Can You Store Cooked Duck?

Cooked duck can be kept in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for 4 to 6 months. In our parents’ days, they used the old earthen pots called formas and would store them outside for days.

Other Recipes You Might Like

• Beaten rice chicken
• Dad’s pineapple chicken recipe
• Easy Bombay Duck Pickle
• Salted Beef Tongue
• Walnut Fudge for Christmas