Crispy Confit Duck Legs with Kusheri and Beetroot

Ok so here's a little French meets North African dish of crispy confit duck with an Egyptian rice and lentil dish also know as Kusheri. I've added some red and golden beetroot in for colour and because I felt that was the best thing to do! 

Normally you would eat kusheri with a spicy tomato sauce. But I find the nuttiness from the lentils and the chicken stocked flavoured rice actually works very well with poultry. It's definitely better than having lentils on it's own in my humble opinion, especially as it works to absorb a lot of the flavours from the duck.

This was the first time I had confit'd anything so I was a little shaky during the cooking stages. I don't think the meat was as tender or succulent as I wanted it to be, and I think this is because my duck fat didn't quite cover the meat as it should have done. This was my own fault as I was trying to get away with less duck fat than required because I was too lazy to go out and get some more. Don't be like me though, do it properly :)

Ingredients
1/2 cup green Lentils
1/2 cup of Rice
2 tbsp Butter
small handful of vermicelli Noodles broken into pieces
2 cups of chicken Stock
1/2 tsp grated Nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
1 Onion, thinly sliced
2 Duck legs
300g  of duck or goose Fat (enough to cover the legs)
2 Bay leaves
1 tsp dried Thyme
4 Beets (2 red, 2 golden)

Recipe
For the confit duck, you want to rub salt on the duck legs and then put the duck in the fridge for about an hour or two. When you're ready to start cooking the duck, take a heavy bottomed suacepan and tip the fat into it. Start to melt the fat on a low heat until it becomes clear. Then drop the duck legs in with the bay leaves and thyme. If the fat doesn't cover the legs, try adding vegetable oil (another item I didn't have :( ) Put the lid on and keep simmering on a very low heat for 2 hours.  When the duck is ready take it out of the oil and pan fry skin side down until the skin becomes crispy.

The beetroot need a good hour of simmering in water to cook. I normally do this with the skin, tops and tails on. You'll know when you've cooked the beetroot for long enough as it will be soft all the way through and when you pick them up with tongs, the skin will slide off. Wear an apron because you can end up staining everything you own.

All the recipes I have seen for kusheri call for the lentils and the rice to be cooked separately and then mixed together. As far as I'm concerned, if you can cook rice using the absorption method, then you don't need to do this. Follow the exact quantity of my rice and lentils to stock and it should work out fine.

But for the kusheri the first thing you need to do is fry the onions and noodles in oil until translucent and starting to brown on the edges. Set this to one side. Pour the lentils, rice, stock, cinnamon and nutmeg into a saucepan on high heat until the stock starts to boil. When the stock is boiling, turn the heat down and put a lid on. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.

When the rice and lentils are ready, season and add the onions, noodles and butter. Give it a good mix and then serve.