Tea-smoked duck breast with deep-fried taro and plum sauce

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Rub the salt all over the duck skin and leave while you prepare the marinade.

2. Put all the ingredients for the marinade into a small wok and bring to the boil. Let it boil for about 10 minutes to bring out the flavour.

3. While the marinade boils, check the duck breasts for any stray feathers. You may need to use tweezers to get the deep set feathers in the skin. Prick the skin all over with a skewer to get a crispy skin, then rinse the duck breasts, and reapply salt over the skin.

4. Turn off the heat of the marinade and add the duck breasts just as if you are giving them a hot bath. Make sure the skin is properly blanched and baste quickly as this will give it a golden colour. This is not intended to cook the duck, only to blanch the skin, so they will only need to be basted for two minutes.

5. For the smoking, line the inside of a roasting tin with foil. Mix together the tea leaves, sugar, rice and star anise and spread evenly over the foil. Put the duck breasts skin-side down on a cooling rack and place in the roasting tin. Turn the heat high for about 2-3 minutes or until the sugar starts to bubble, then turn down the heat to very low and make a tightly sealed lid with a double layer of foil to ensure that the smoke doesn’t escape. Leave the heat on very low so that it smokes but doesn’t burn the sugar or rice and smoke the duck for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat completely and leave to continue smoking for a further 15 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. For the plum sauce, put all the ingredients into a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally. The sauce should have the consistency of a thick jam; take care it doesn’t burn. Season with sugar or salt to taste then push through a fine sieve and set aside until needed.

7. Remove the duck breast from the smoker, rub a little vodka into the skin, then pat it dry thoroughly with kitchen paper. Finish cooking the duck by placing on a clean roasting tray, skin-side up, in the oven and roast for eight minutes. Remove from the oven then rest for five minutes.

8. For the taro, heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan. The oil is hot enough when a cube of bread dropped into it turns golden-brown. Deep-fry the taro in the oil, gently stirring it to prevent the cubes from sticking together until golden-brown. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Never leave the pan unattended.)

9. Remove the taro from the oil with a slotted spoon and place onto a cooling rack covered in kitchen paper. Gently pat dry and then sprinkle a mixture of saffron powder and salt, to taste.

10. Stir fry the pea shoots in a wok with two teaspoons of vegetable oil. After one minute, remove from the heat and toss with the crushed garlic. Cut the duck breasts into equal strips and serve with the plum sauce, taro chips and pea shoots.

30 mins to 1 hour preparation time

1 to 2 hours cooking time

Serves 4