Peking Duck Rice Paper Rolls

Peking Duck Rice Paper Rolls
Home Cooking



I had never really cooked with duck before but I was pretty excited to break the seal with the duck breasts I received from Game Farm. After considering and tossing many recipes from my vast collection of cookbooks, I went with a recipe on the Game Farm website for "Duck and Shitake fresh spring rolls".



I modified the recipe a bit but the general idea is there. As always with things like wraps, rolls etc, the components can be anything you like.


These are really easy to make. The duck breasts are the most challenging part but if you stuff them up (as I did), it doesn't really matter because they get wrapped up anyway.


I also did a little stir-fried sweet soy shitake mushroom filling and cut up some cucumbers and spring onions. Easy as. If you've never wrapped rice paper rolls, you might need a wee bit of practice.

Peking Duck Rice Paper Rolls
Serves 3-4 as entrees

Ingredients:

• 2 duck breast fillets with skin
• 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 150g fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced (I used dried shitake mushrooms revived in hot water)
• 1 tbsp light soy
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup plum sauce
• 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
• 50g dried rice vermicelli noodles
• 10 x 16cm diameter rice paper rounds
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves
• 1-2 lebanese cucumbers, seed removed and cut into long strips

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Sprinkle the duck skin with the five-spice, salt and pepper.
3. Heat a medium non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the duck skin-side down and cook for 3–4 minutes each side or until browned. Transfer to the oven and cook for a further 5–8 minutes or until cooked through. (I found that the duck skin started burning on high heat so I recommend a lower heat setting to help render the fat out before transferring to the oven).4. Allow the duck to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.5. Meanwhile, saute the mushrooms in the same pan with the sesame oil, soy sauce and sugar for around 3min. Set aside.6. For the sauce, combine the plum sauce, vinegar and ginger in a small bowl and set aside.7. Place the rice noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 6–8 minutes or until soft. Drain and set aside.
8. I like to serve all the components of the rice paper rolls separately at the dinner table to allow everyone to roll them up their own way. If you want to have them ready to eat, soften the rice paper rounds in warm water and place on a plate. Add coriander, mushrooms, duck and noodles. You can add the sauce at this point or use it as a dipping sauce. Fold over the ends and roll to enclose the filling.9. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up. Serve immediately.


As I mentioned above, I had trouble cooking the duck breasts. I didn't render the fat out enough and the skin wasn't crispy. Luckily, when wrapped up in the rolls, it wasn't really a problem and the rolls were still delicious.

Bite shot

I like that these are a healthy but impressive dish that can be eaten as an entree or used as party finger-food. It's a nice variation on the usual pork/prawn rolls we find in shops.