Aromatic crispy duck

If you have not had this at a Chinese restaurant before then I suggest you order this in your next visit to get an idea of of how it's supposed to be served and how attractive it looks. Me being a vegetarian, I had it minus the crispy duck (chief ingredient), still I thoroughly enjoyed the different textures and tastes. I strongly reccommend it next time you are planning a Chinese dinner. The easiest option is to get a frozen crispy duck and chinese pancakes and assemble everything else. I did make a trip to the Chinese shop to get the pancakes, chilli in oil and hoisin sauce. Nowadays, you may find everything in a supermarket in the "world food" section.I did substitute duck with roasted chicken once but apparently the duck tastes better, I am told. This is the easiest possible recipe for crispy duck I have come across otherwise the traditional method is quite time consuming.
Ingredients:

For the crispy duck

• 2  duck breasts, skin on
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 1.2 litres chicken stock
• 3 star anise
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns
• 6 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 spring onions, trimmed, very roughly chopped
• 2in piece  ginger, peeled, sliced

To serve

• 16 ready-made Chinese pancakes
• small bunch spring onions, trimmed, sliced into thin strips lengthways
•  cucumber, cut into fine strips
•  hoisin sauce 
  Chilli in oil
  
  

  Preparation method

• Preheat the oven to 220 C/350F.
• For the crispy duck, remove the skin from the duck breasts and make three long scores in each piece of skin with a sharp knife. Place the skins into a small, non-stick roasting tin and rub the salt and five-spice powder evenly onto them. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until crisp and golden-brown.
  
• Meanwhile, pour the stock into a lidded saucepan and add all of the remaining ingredients except duck. Bring slowly to the boil, and simmer for 4-5 minutes.Add the duck breasts to the stock, cover with the lid and gently poach the duck for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the duck breasts from the pan and allow to cool a little before shredding with two forks, pulling the meat apart. Place onto a plate or baking tray, cover with aluminium foil and keep warm in a low oven.

• Once cooked, drain the crisp duck skins on kitchen paper and finely slice and toss with the shredded duck breast.

• To serve, arm the Chinese pancakes in a steamer or microwave, then place the spring onions, cucumber, chilli in oil and hoisin sauce in separate serving bowls and serve alongside the warmed pancakes and shredded crispy duck. Allow people to assemble the rolls themselves. To assemble, spread a little hoisin sauce onto a Chinese pancake, scatter with some spring onions, cucumber and crispy duck and roll up to enclose before eating with your fingers.