Crispy duck pancakes with plum sauce
- Prepare
- overnight
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 2
A Chinese restaurant classic, this version makes slow-cooked confit duck for extra tender meat.
Ingredients
For the crispy duck
- 2 duck legs
- 1–2 tbsp Chinese five-spice powder
- coarse sea salt
- 640g/1lb 7oz duck fat, to cover
- 2 star anise
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp pink peppercorns
- 1 head garlic
- 3cm/1in fresh root ginger
- 1 bay leaf
For the plum sauce
- 300g/10½oz plums, stones removed and cut in half
- 1 tsp very finely chopped fresh root ginger
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 75g/2¾oz caster sugar
- 5 tbsp wine vinegar, such as rice, cider or other
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
- ½ cucumber, julienned
- ½ mooli (Chinese cabbage), peeled, julienned and pickled in sugar and rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 50ml/2fl oz rice vinegar
- 4 spring onions, trimmed and julienned
- 10 thin rice flour pancakes
Method
To make the crispy duck, dust the duck legs in the Chinese five-spice powder.
Bury the legs in the salt, weigh it down and chill in the fridge overnight.
Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3.
Rinse the legs and place in the duck fat with the spices, garlic, ginger and bay leaf. Cover everything with the fat.
Cook for 1½ hours and then leave to cool in the fat.
Increase the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
Cook the duck legs, skin-side down, in a hot frying pan.
Roast in the oven for 20 minutes until crispy.
Shred the duck with two forks or shred the duck and crisp up again in a frying pan. Set aside.
To make the plum sauce, place all of the ingredients and 5 tablespoons water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer until all of the fruit has collapsed and reduced, this will take around 20 minutes. Push through a sieve into a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
To serve, place the duck, sauce, cucumber, mooli and spring onion in the pancakes. Roll and enjoy.
