Served as an appetiser, this delicious Cantonese roast duck salad is often featured in Chinese restaurants. It includes lightly pickled vegetables, jellyfish that provides textural contrast and two very English sauces – Worcestershire and HP. Jellyfish is sold in plastic packets; you’ll find tubs of pickled daikon and carrots in the refrigerated counters of Chinese grocers. Try the recipe below if you’d like to make your own pickles. This recipe is adapted from Christine Hua of Melbourne’s Red Emperor Chinese restaurant.
Ingredients
Salad
Dressing
Vegetable pickles
Method
Main
1.For jellyfish, cover with water to soak for at least 4 hours, changing the water several times to wash off the salt. Drain jellyfish and place in a bowl. Pour boiling water over and imme-diately drain, rinse and soak in cold water for 3-5 minutes. Squeeze dry and slice into fine strips.
2.For pickled vegetables, combine daikon, carrot and celery in a large mixing bowl. Scatter with salt and mix well. Set aside for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, combine vinegar, sugar, garlic,
chilli and 1 cup of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes and leave to cool completely. Rinse vegetables in running water and drain well. Add sugar-vinegar solution to vegetables. Stand for 30 minutes before using. Pickled vegetables will keep refrigerated in a sterilised jar for 1 week.
3.For dressing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl with 60ml water and stir to combine.
4.Remove breasts and legs from the duck. Remove bones from the legs and slice breast and leg meat. In a bowl combine pickles, duck, half the dressing and jellyfish, if using. Gently mix through salad leaves and serve topped with peanuts and coriander. Serve with remaining dressing passed separately.
Note Salted jellyfish has a crisp, crunchy texture and is sold whole or shredded in packs from Asian grocery stores. It must be reconstituted in cold water before use. Cantonese roast duck is available from your local Chinatown or Chinese barbecue shops.
