Chinese steamed buns with spicy confit duck

 
 
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Chinese steamed buns with spicy confit duck
Steamed buns are extremely trendy—with pop-up restaurants and street food stalls seemingly serving little else. My favourites come from Momofuku in New York, so I recommend their bun recipe (just google it), although you could always buy frozen from your local Asian supermarket. I then add my own sticky, spicy confit duck. Delicious.
Ingredients
  • 8 bao buns
  • FOR THE PICKLED CUCUMBER:
  • 1/2 small cucumber
  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp caster sugar
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground salt
  • Lemon juice, squeeze
  • FOR THE DUCK FILLING:
  • 2 large duck legs
  • 4 tbsp sea salt
  • 3 sprigs thyme—leaves only
  • 400g duck fat, melted
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • ginger, finely chopped
  • garlic, finely chopped
  • TO SERVE:
  • Chilli sauce
  • 2 spring onions, finely sliced
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 120C. 2. Massage the salt and thyme into the duck and leave to marinate for 1 hour. When ready, barely cover in the melted duck fat and roast in the preheated oven for 2 hours. Remove the skin and roughly shred with a fork. Keep to one side, covered.3. To pickle the cucumbers, slice thinly and add to the remaining ingredients. Leave to marinate for 10-20 minutes.4. Add all of the filling ingredients, except the duck, to a small pan over a medium heat until you have a sticky glaze. Lower the heat and stir in the shredded meat to warm through. 5. Steam the buns until fluffy and cooked, about 10 minutes (if made from scratch, otherwise refer to the cooking instructions). 6. To serve, open the buns add a little chilli sauce, some pickled cucumbers and a good serving of the spicy duck filling. Finish with some sliced spring onion.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 4 servings