Crispy Duck and Wonton Stack with Water Spinach, Candied Chillies, Sticky Soy and Sesame Oil Dressing

Since starting this Challenge, Duck has definately become one of my favourite foods by far. This recipe actually explains to you how to make your own BBQ Crispy Skinned Duck. For those of you who weren't aware, this actually requires you to stick a bike pump under the Duck's skin to get some air in there. This means you'll get a much crispier skin on the Duck when you're cooking it.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the time (or a bike pump) to do this method, but it's one I'd love to try out sometime, when I have more time. So, on this occasion, I dropped into my favourite BBQ Duck shop in Victoria St, Richmond and picked up half a BBQ Duck for $11 (a whole one is $22) . You can either order these whole or chopped into pieces. It's definately a treat to watch the Duck man chop it up, he sure knows his way around a bird!

You don't need to do a great deal for this recipe, especially in comparison to some other recipes in the book. You'll need to make Candied Chillies, as I've described previously. I just love how the chillies go transparent and look like little lolly rings.

You will also need to make a spicy powder which includes nutmeg, Cinnamon, sichuan peppercorns, star anise, chilli flakes and cardamom.

You'll need to make some sticky soy, which is a reduced combination of 3 different soy sauces, it's a great garnish, but to be honest, is a bit of a pain to make, hard to clean off everything and doesn't taste all THAT different to straight up Kecap Manis, which I think you could easily substitute for the sticky soy.

You need to make a Salad, which is a pretty standard Asian Salad, which is similar to many used throughout Ezard's book, however this one includes noodles and has an excellent little Sesame Oil Dressing.

Deep fry your Won-Ton Wrappers, probably one at a time works best. You only need to have them in for a few seconds, otherwise they will get too dark, you might even need to turn them over to colour them on both sides.

Mix your duck in at the last minute with your salad and then seperate the salad into 2 small portions per person, as each stack has 2 layers. Also, sprinkle each of the Won Ton Wrappers with a pinch of the Spicy Powder.

Drizzle some Sticky Soy in a spiral pattern on your plate and place a Won Ton Wrapper in the middle. Place some duck and salad on top and then another Won Ton and then repeat and you're done!

The crispy texture of the spicy Won Ton's is the perfect accompaniment to this delicious duck salad. The sweet sticky soy mixes perfectly with the salad and the Sesame dressing. It's also a very impressive looking dish to boot!

Tea-Smoked Duck Salad with Cucumber, Chilli, Lime and Mandarin Pancakes

Since it's been quite hot this week, I thought I'd try out this salad recipe that caught my eye. I had also never tried to smoke any type of meat at home using tea leaves (or anything else for that matter). It's much easier than I thought it would be, but very effective. I've also found this recipe online as well, so give it a shot yourself, it's quite easy and very tasty. The pancakes can be a little time consuming, but get someone to help you and it will cut your prep time in half. Even though they take a little while, the pancakes are actually quite easy to make, so don't be put off! Just in case you were wondering, Mandarin pancakes have nothing to do with Mandarin fruit!

First you need to mix your tea leaves, rice and brown sugar together. The Green Tea I bought already had roasted rice in it, so I'm not sure how much difference this made to the taste, but it was still great.


Line your wok with some foil and put your tea mix in the bottom. Place your duck breasts on top of the tea, skin side down and then cover with the wok lid. Place the wok on a medium - low flame and heat for 5 mins until smoking. Once smoking, leave on the heat for 15 mins, then take off the heat - don't remove the lid or else your remaining smoke with escape. Don't worry about the smoke escaping and filling your room, because it wont happen, just make sure the foil covers the edges of your wok and you should get a snug fit with your lid.

This is what the duck will look like once it's been smoked. It's still not cooked though, you'll need to cook the duck, skin side down in a dry, oven proof frying pan, until the skin is really crispy. Make sure you brush off as much of the tea mixture as you can before frying.


You'll then need to cook the duck in the oven for about 8 mins or so. Until it's just cooked, it should still be pink inside.


Here is the duck once it's been cooked in the oven and rested for about 5 mins, then sliced lengthways.


Once you've made your salad and dressing, mix the duck with the salad and plate the salad up. Serve on individual plates with the pancakes on the side. You then eat the duck and salad like a Peking duck. The dressing is kind of like a runny BBQ duck glaze, so it really is like a Peking Duck Salad. You could easily serve this as an main course, but I served it as an Entree - absolutely delicious!