Fakeaway duck pancakes, lemon chicken and salt&chilli prawns

I love Chinese food, especially dim sum and Sichuan hot pot, but when it comes to takeaway, naff English style dishes are my weakness. There’s something about crispy fried things in a slightly gelatinous sauce that really hits the spot.

Takeaway is however generally very greasy and has a lot of salt, so I’ve been trying to be good and massively reduce my intake which combined with my love of The Airfrier, lead me down this merry path.

The crispy duck takes ages, but you can cook it in advance and reheat the meat when you’re ready to go.

A note on the photos: they’re not very good. It all came together quckly at the end and I didn’t take many.

You will need

Crispy duck pancakes

• The wings and legs of a duck (I bought a whole one and jointed it)
• 5 spice - I needed about 2 teaspoons
• Rock salt - 1 teaspoon
• Pancake wrappers (I get them frozen from a Chinese supermarket)
• A cucumber
• 3 or 4 spring onions topped and tailed
• Hoisin

Lemon chicken

• A couple of chicken breasts
• An egg
• Breadcrumbs (I used Panko) (enough to cover the chicken and prawns)
• A couple of of teaspoons of cornflower
• Juice of a lemon
• Teaspoon of brown sugar
• A teasponn of grated ginger

Salt and chilli prawns

• A handful of raw and peeled prawns
• A fresh chilli finely sliced
• 3 or 4 spring onions sliced
• A red pepper sliced into pieces

Do

Crispy duck pancakes

• Stick the oven on 140oC
• Slash the duck potions though to the bone
• Rub the 5 spice and salt into the duck portions so they’re completely covered
• Pop the duck in a non-stick roasting tin ([you know my favorite(https://amzn.to/2LoQAx7)) and into the oven. If you can tilt the tray so that the fat will run to one end. I used a tyre iron on the rack to raise up one end a centimeter
• Roast for 2 hours or so until the duck is super cripsy.
• Let the duck cool until you can handle it and then shred it off the bone with a fork and set aside until dinner time.
• Slice the cucmber into sticks a couple of inches long
• Slice the spring onions into battons
• When you’re ready to eat, microwave the pancakes in their packet for 20 seconds and you’re good to go

Lemon chicken and salt & chilli prawns

• Beat the egg in a bowl
• Sprinkle the breadcrumbs into a plate reserving some for sprinking ove rthe top
• Flatten the chicken breast a bit so they’re even
• Dust the chicken and the prawns in cornflour (this helps the egg wash stick)
• Dip each piece into the beaten egg and then the breadcrumb (this is fiddly and crappy and I’ve never got the hang of it)
• Fire up the airfrier and pop the chicken in. It takes about ten minutes
• Add the prawns after 5 minutes.
• Meantime, whisk a heaped teaspoon of cornflower with a couple of teaspoons of cold water
• Whisk in the grated ginger, suger and lemon juice
• Microwave for 5 minutes or so until it’s thickened
• Meanwhile gently fry the spring onions, peppers and chillis
• Once the prawns are ready, pop them in the pan with the pepper and onions and stir round.
• When you’re ready to serve, pour the lemon sauce over the chicken and plate up

Naturally, being an afficianado of classy takeaway, we served all this with a potion of chips and another of microwaved rice.

Result

Airfrying isn’t quite as good as deepfrying and everything wasn’t quite as greasy and salty as I might have hoped, but the salt and chilli prawns where great and the lemon chicken was juicy, cripsy and sharp. Oven chips made in a airfrier are great.