I took my three children for their first ever visit to a Chinese restaurant the other day and they devoured the crispy duck pancakes. They loved the melt-in-the-mouth duck and the sweet and piquant hoi sin sauce, but most of all they loved the hands-on fun of assembling them.
Of course, Chinese ducks in restaurants are hung up to dry and basted for several hours, but you can re-create something very close to the real thing at home. All you need is a slow cooker or a casserole dish. I served these with tortilla wraps and slices of peppers for extra crunch.
Serves 2-4
2 large duck legs
2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
Half a cucumber, deseeded and sliced into strips
2 peppers (different colours), deseeded and sliced into strips
2 spring onions, washed and sliced into strips
1 jar hoi sin sauce 4-8 tortilla wraps
1. Pat the duck legs dry and sprinkle over the Chinese five spice powder. Put in a casserole dish. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6 and roast the legs for 1 hour, until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. If you prefer, you could put them in a slow cooker on LOW setting for 2-3 hours.
2. Remove the duck from the casserole dish or slow cooker. Transfer to a plate in a warm oven while you prepare the vegetables.
3. Assemble the dish however you (or your kids) like. Some prefer the hoi sin sauce spread on the bottom of the wrap/pancake, pizza-style; others prefer a dollop on top after they've filled the wrap with slices of meat and vegetables.