A very flavorful dish coming straight from Reunion Island : canard à la vanille. It's a stew with a vanilla bean to flavor it all, duck meat falling apart because it's so tender... Don't knock it 'til you try it !

I used blue vanilla from Reunion Island because it's so so flavorful and powerful, I only used half a bean but if you have regular vanilla on hand, use a full bean.

Let the sauce reduce so it's packed with flavors, so much better. Serve with white rice and chili paste.

Vanilla duck stew (serves 4) :

• 4 duck legs
• 1 vanilla bean
• 4 small tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 cm ginger
• 1 bird's eye chili (optional)
• Vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pot.

Season the duck legs with salt and pepper on both sides.

Fry the duck legs in the oil until the skin gets really crispy, about 7 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, mince the onion thinly.

Use a mortar to make a paste out of the garlic, ginger and bird's eye chili.

Cube the tomatoes.

Cut the vanilla bean in half and scrape the inside with a knife.

When the legs are golden, take them out of the pot.

Add some oil from the pot if there's too much, then add the onions and garlic-ginger pasta. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, vanilla (bean and scraped inside), duck legs. Cover with water.

Let it simmer for an hour and a half, if the sauce is too thin, let it simmer with no lid on for an extra 10-12 minutes, keeping an eye on it.

Serve with white rice !