Ching-H’s classic Chinese recipes

Will you be marking Chinese New Year?

The RSPCA has teamed up with celebrity chef Ching-He Huang to create new delicious and healthy recipes using the most popular Chinese meat, duck.

Food Network have special Chinese programming showing this weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year on Friday 31st January. 'Easy Chinese' will air on Food Network, 09:00 until 15:00 on Saturday 25th January. For more information: www.foodnetwork.co.uk

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Grilled Spiced Duck skewers with tender Kale stir fry, pomegranates and fried spiced crispy duck skin

Chase away the winter blues by dusting off the griddle pan and do some indoor grilling with my spiced Duck skewers. Easy and delicious, this dish is perfect for a treat on the weekend and great to cook for family and friends for easy entertaining. You can serve this with your favorite side dishes but why not try some healthy stir-fried kale that is tasty and healthy? Also as duck can be rather fatty, why not transform the duck skin into crisp deliciousness by seasoning them and frying them to make crackling. However you choose to make this dish yours, make sure you choose Freedom Food Duck meat as they have been reared to a higher welfare standard, and healthier birds mean a healthier you. You can also substitute the duck for beef, chicken or even chunky courgettes if you are vegetarian. Enjoy!

Serves 2 as a main or 4 to share with other dishes

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinade time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 6-8 minutes

Main Ingredients

• (397g) 2 X Freedom Foods Duck Breast, skin and breast meat separated, breast sliced on the angle into 2 inch piece slices.
• 4 large bamboo skewers, pre-soaked in cold water
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

For the Marinade

• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 inch of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 tablespoon runny honey
• 3 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha or good chilli sauce of your choice
• 3 tablespoon low sodium light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
• 1 pinch of ground white pepper

For the Kale Stir-fry

• 2 tablespoon rapeseed oil
• 1 medium red Fresno chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 160g of Cavolo Nero, or dinosaur kale, or curly kale, washed, sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 2 large pinches of cracked sea salt
• 1 lemon, juiced

For the Fried Spiced Crispy Duck skin

• 500ml groundnut oil
• 1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper, toasted, ground in a pestle and mortar
• 2 pinches of cracked sea salt
• 2 pinches of cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
• 2 tablespoons potato starch
• 1 pinch of dried chilli flakes

For the garnish

• Few wedges of lemon
• 2 tablespoons of Pomegranate seeds

On the side - Satsuma soy dressing

• 2 ripe small Satsuma, zest and juice
• ½ lemon, zest and juice
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons low sodium light soy sauce
• Pinch of cracked sea salt
• Pinch of cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Wash the duck breasts and pat dry. Remove the skin from the duck breasts.

2. In a bowl, add all the marinade ingredients for the duck and marinade the breast meat for 1 hour, covered in the fridge to absorb all the flavours.

3. Prepare the rest of the ingredients. And pre-soak some bamboo skewers in cold water for 20 minutes.

4. With the duck skin, slice into pieces and dress with the spice mix and potato starch and set to one side. Heat a medium pan of fill with vegetable oil. When the oil has reached 180 degrees, place the seasoned duck skin pieces into the oil and fry for 5 minutes until golden brown. Remove using a slotted spoon and drain excess oil on absorbent kitchen paper. Set aside.

5. Once the duck breasts have been marinated. Remove from the fridge and skewers the duck meat on the bamboo skewers.

6. Heat a griddle on high heat and brush the griddle with vegetable oil. Place the skewers on the grill and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Turn the heat to medium and cook the skewers basting with the marinade as it cooks for a further minute on each side. The marinade will make a sticky delicious glaze. Take off the heat and set the skewers to one side and to rest the meat.

7. Heat a medium wok over high heat and add the rapeseed oil, then add in the chilli and the kales pieces and toss in the wok for 30 seconds. Cook for another 30 seconds until the kale has turned a deeper translucent green but is still al dente and season with cracked sea salt and lemon juice. Toss together and take off the heat.

8. To serve, transfer the skewers to a warm serving plate, serve with the wok fried kale on the side, some of the fried crispy duck skin, a wedge of lemon and some garnish with some pomegranate seeds and serve immediately. Serve with a zesty Satsuma dressing on the side by whisking all the ingredients together and some Jasmine rice tossed through with some coriander if you wish.

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Hoisin Roast Duck Rice Rolls – a new take on the Spring Roll

On the Chinese New Year feast table, Spring rolls are a must alongside whole steamed fish and golden nuggets of dumplings. Spring rolls are traditionally eaten at this time to help celebrate the New Year, the New Year is also otherwise known as the “Spring” Festival. Spring rolls can be filled with a variety of fillings, traditionally with vegetables and deep-fried before serving so the pastry on the outside is deliciously crisp and crunchy. From the humble days when I was growing up on my grandmother’s farm, spring rolls have thus been transformed – from duck spring rolls, jumbo shrimps rolls and of course American Egg rolls – where rolls are either dipped in egg batter and fried, or a thin crepe lines a traditional yet larger “spring roll”. Taiwanese also have special rolls called “Lun Piah”, where the pastry of the spring rolls are not fried but eaten “raw” and cold, the fillings topped with crushed peanut sugar. Whichever rolls are served, they can be accompanied with a host of delicious dipping sauces from sweet chilli, tangy Sriracha, Hoisin, or plum sauce. For this Chinese New Year, I wanted to go all out and create a special “roll”, one that is comforting, rich, indulgent yet slightly healthier than the deep-fried traditional roll. I have created a new modern Spring Roll, a twist on the classic duck recipe. I have fused it by encasing the shredded duck meat with Japanese short grain brown rice with assorted pickled vegetables, wrapped in the spring roll pastry and then very lightly browned in a pan with a few tablespoons of oil to give it a crisp crunchy finish without the heaviness, and served with shop bought Hoisin sauce. I promise you that you will never want a traditional spring roll again.

Marinade time: 1 hour
Cook and prep time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

• (465g) 2 large Freedom Food labelled duck breasts, skin on
• 8 sheets of TYJ spring roll pastry (size: 21cm X 21cm)
• 6 tablespoons groundnut oil

For the rice

• 1 cup of super premium short grain brown rice, washed until the water runs clear
• 2 cups of cold water

For the Hoisin Roast Duck Marinade

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoon ginger, peeled & freshly grated
• 1 tablespoon Shaosing rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
• 2 tablespoon runny honey
• 2 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 pinch sea salt

For the pickled vegetables

• ½ (150g) cucumber, deseeded, julienne
• 4 (150g) small carrots, top and tailed, peeled, julienne
• 4 (100g) celery stalks, julienne
• 4 (40g) spring onions, roots chopped, julienne
• ½ red pepper, deseeded, julienne
• 1 cup of rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoon mirin
• 1 large tablespoon soft brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon cracked sea salt

• 1 granny smith apple, sliced into thin half moon slices

Garnish

• 2 Spring onions, sliced into thin strips, soaked in ice-cold water to give spring onion curls

Dipping sauces

• 3-4 tablespoon Hoisin sauce in a small bowl
• 3-4 tablespoon Sriracha chilli sauce in a small bowl

Method:

1. Place the duck legs in a zip lock bag, add all the marinade ingredients. Marinade for at least one hour in the fridge.

2. Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the duck legs (including the marinade) round side up on a roasting tray lined with kitchen paper/foil. Roast for 40 minutes, then turn heat up to 220 degrees, cook the duck legs for a further 10 minutes to cook well done.

3. While the duck is cooking, in a medium saucepan place the washed rice in. Add 2 cups of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for 35 minutes until all the moisture is absorbed. Fluff up the grains, remove from the heat and let it stand for 10 minutes to rest before handling.

4. In a small shallow proof non-metallic bowl, add all the pickled vegetable ingredients together with the pickling seasonings and place in the liquid in the fridge. Quick pickle the vegetables for 10-15 minutes.

5. Once the duck is cooked, remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Once rested, shred the duck legs and place on a serving board. (Keep the bones to make noodle soup or stock).

6. Take two pieces of the spring rolls pastry. Place in a diamond shape on the board and then spoon four tablespoons of the brown rice along the middle from the left to the right corner leaving half an inch off the end. Place a small handful of the pickled vegetables and spread across the top of the rice. Then spoon a few tablespoons of the duck meat across on top of the vegetables. Place a few slices of granny smith apple over the top. Bring the two corners together to meet in the middle. Fold each of the opposite corners in over the filling and roll the wrapper into a large “cigar shape”. Repeat and make three more rolls.

7. Heat up a frying pan or wok, add 6 tablespoons of groundnut oil and place the roll into the hot oil and cook until the wrapper is crisp and lightly golden. Take it off the heat; slice each roll on the diagonal and place on a serving plate. Serve with a small bowl of Hoisin or chilli dipping sauce. Garnish with spring onions curls.

Note: The addition of the Granny Smith apples compliments the flavour of the duck giving it a sharp sweet tang.