When I first started dating the boy, we used to always make homemade Chinese banquets. Unfortunately, he hid his obsession with Indian food until it was too late and I loved him so now we have to make curries. The only silver lining being that I can make a good samosa and onion bhaji now. 

  
Well he can sharpen the chopsticks this weekend because I’m having a nostalgic banquet for two (hopefully he won’t faint on this date). We usually had pak choi and noodles as side with a dipping sauce splashed over it. The sauce is really simple and tasty: 1 part soy sauce, 1 part water, spring onions, red chilli, sesame seeds and a splash of rice wine or red wine vinegar. 

The centre piece however was always my duck spring rolls. I usually make loads and freeze them- pop in the oven at 190 for 15 mins and they’re great again. I am telling you this because I once made the huge mistake of leaving my spare ones in ‘his’ freezer. A few weeks later, I did all the other prep, went to pop them in the oven and they weren’t there. Trying to hide my rage about that while appearing calm and attractive was a challenge. Writing about it in a blog passively aggressively two years later still isn’t cutting the mustard!

Duck spring rolls

• 4/5 pieces of confit duck 
• 3 carrots
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 1 medium cucumber 
• Bottle of hoisin sauce
• Spring roll wrappers
• Sunflower oil for cooking

1. Put the confit duck pieces in a roasting tray and cook for 45 mins at 190c. Drain off the fat half way through. 
2. Julienne the carrots, spring onions, cucumber and mix in a large bowl with the hoisin sauce.
3. Take the duck out and shred it all with a fork. Mix with the vegetables and hoisin sauce. 
4. Put about 40/50g of mixture on one side of a spring roll wrapper. Before rolling, ‘tuck in’ the ends by making a fold at the top and bottom of the mixture then roll.
5. In a frying pan, put about half an inch of oil in and heat it up. I just use the oil to colour the rolls and hold them together. Fry the rolls lightly (about 20 seconds) on each side and lay them on a lined baking tray.
6. Cook the rolls in the oven, at 190c for about 5 minutes on each side.

Note: this recipe is easy if you use tinned confit duck but it’s quite hard to get here (my dad gives me 6 tins at Christmas). However, a  healthier alternative would be to roast a whole duck and baste it with salt and butter until crispy and then shred it.