We came up with the idea for the recipe the same way we come up with a lot of our ideas, my wife was in the store and saw a fun ingredient we had yet to cook with, in this case Chinese Long Beans. We had talked about cooking duck the same week, so hence 5 spiced rubbed Duck with Chinese long beans.
Now the only problem with this recipe, was the fact that we were out of store bought Chinese 5 Spice. But that got me thinking, why don't I just make my own? Traditionally Chinese 5 Spice is a mix of Star Anise, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves and Peppercorns (there are a couple of variations, but that is the basic). You need to work with whole spices for this and I happened to have all of these, so I made my own. I wanted to sub out the clove for coriander to give it a deeper lemony flavor, but I was worried that it wasn't traditionally Chinese. Then I remembered something, I'm not traditional or Chinese. So my version is below.
Ingredients
4 Duck Breasts
1 Bunch of Chinese Long Beans, cut into 4 inch sections
1 Shallot, sliced into long strips
For the homemade 5 spice:
2 Star Anise Pods
1 Cinnamon stick
1 Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Peppercorns
1 tsp Coriander
For the Glaze:
2 tbsp. Soy Sauce
2 tbsp. Rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp. chicken stock (or water)
1 tsp Fish sauce
1 tsp Mirin
1 tsp Black Garlic Paste
1 tsp Plum sauce
1 tsp Gochuchange
Directions
Get a small sauté pan on med heat and add your 5 spices. Toast until fragrant (2 - 3 min) then add to a spice grinder and blend. Score your duck on the fat side and season the fat liberally with salt and some spice min. Season the second side with just spice mix. Next combine all the ingredients for the glaze and stir. Cook the duck using the cold pan method here.
Have a wok on high heat while the duck is finishing. Once you flip the duck, add 2 tbsp. of canola or grape seed oil to your screaming hot wok. Add your beans to the wok and stir constantly. Remove the duck and let rest. After your beans have cooked 2 min, add shallot and cook 1 min more. Then add your glaze ingredients and reduce it down till it becomes an actual glaze (2 - 3 min). At this point, the beans have cooked 5 - 6 min, next cover the wok and let the beans steam for 2 - 3 min. Remove lid and check the beans for doneness (they should be slightly soft with a little char on the outside). When the beans are done, remove to a resting plate. If you glaze is still runny, cook it out another min or two on the wok, then pour over the beans. Slice your duck along the score lines and serve.
