Duck Confit, Chive and Plum Spring Rolls with Homemade Plum Sauce

Confit is a French technique. You submerge duck legs in their own rendered fat and cook them low and slow until the meat falls clean off the bone. It's not something you'd find on a street cart in Bangkok, but it's one of the best ways to prepare duck for a spring roll and that's the only reason it's here.

When the duck is confited and shredded the residual fat binds the meat together, and when the spring rolls hit the oil that fat melts back through the filling, giving you a juicy, rich bite of duck inside a properly crispy shell. That contrast is what makes these worth the effort. This is exactly the kind of thing we do at Farang - take a technique that works, apply it to Thai flavours, and see what happens. The result is ours and nobody else's.

The plum sauce is not the sweet, dark, shop-bought stuff. We use ruby red plums cooked down until the sauce is a deep purple-red, sour and sweet at the same time. That acidity is what cuts through the richness of the duck fat and the pastry. It's a completely different thing and it's worth making from scratch. These are at their best in late summer when good British plums are around - the flavour of the sauce is noticeably better with ripe fruit.

Chinese chives are bigger, smellier and more intensely flavoured than regular English chives. Worth seeking out from an Asian supermarket, but English chives work fine in their place - you just lose a bit of pungency.

A note on the star anise and cloves in the confit - don't skip them. They season the fat as the duck cooks and give the whole thing an aromatic depth that comes through in every bite.

Duck Confit, Chive and Plum Spring Rolls

Serves: 3-4 as a snack or small plate Prep: 30 minutes plus 4-5 hours confit time Cook: 20 minutes Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients

For the duck confit

• 3 duck legs

• 800ml rendered duck fat (50/50 duck fat and vegetable oil works well and saves money)

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and made into a paste

• 2 star anise

• 4 cloves

• 2 big pinches coarse sea salt

For the plum sauce and filling

• 400g ripe ruby red plums, de-stoned and quartered

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

• 20g fresh ginger, peeled and grated

• 2 spring onions, roots removed, finely sliced - whites and greens separated

• 50g Chinese chives, finely chopped (English chives work too)

• 50g light soft brown sugar

• 1 tsp ground white pepper

• Fish sauce or sea salt to season

For frying and serving

• 15 spring roll pastry sheets

• Residual duck fat or vegetable oil for frying

• Crispy curry leaves

• Crispy shallots

• Fried dried long red chilli

• Julienned makrut lime leaves

• Fresh coriander

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Melt the duck fat gently in a deep ovenproof pot over low heat with a pinch of salt. Add the garlic paste, star anise and cloves and let them infuse for a few minutes. Submerge the duck legs in the fat, cover with a cartouche of parchment paper and a lid, then transfer to the oven and cook for 4-5 hours until the meat falls off the bone.

2. Remove the duck legs from the fat and leave to cool enough to handle. Shred the meat finely, discarding the skin and bones. Reserve the cooking fat - you'll use some of it for the filling and for frying.

3. For the plum sauce, heat around 100ml of the reserved duck fat in a pan over medium heat. Add the remaining garlic and ginger and fry until golden. Add the plums and cook for around 15 minutes until they break down completely. Add the brown sugar and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring, until you have a rich, glossy, deep-red sauce. Reserve a portion for dipping and set the rest aside to cool.

4. Combine the shredded duck with enough cooled plum sauce to bind it - you want it moist but not wet. Add the Chinese chives, white parts of the spring onion, white pepper and a little duck fat if the mix feels dry. Season with fish sauce or salt. Cool completely before rolling.

5. Lay out a pastry sheet. Place a portion of filling in the centre, moisten the edges, fold the sides in and roll into a tight sausage. Seal the seam well. Repeat with remaining filling.

6. Heat the duck fat or oil to 180-190°C. Fry the spring rolls in batches of 4-5 for 2-3 minutes until deep golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper.

7. Serve immediately on a sharing plate scattered with crispy curry leaves, shallots, fried chilli, makrut lime leaves and fresh coriander. The reserved plum sauce alongside for dipping.

Chef's notes

Uncooked spring rolls keep in the fridge for 2 days or freeze well. Fry straight from frozen, adding a minute or two to the cooking time.

The plum sauce keeps in the fridge for up to a week. It's good on most things - grilled duck breast, pork, even with cheese if you're that way inclined.

The duck fat left after confiting is gold. Strain it, keep it in the fridge and use it to fry potatoes, cook vegetables or start a curry. It keeps for months.

More recipes at faranglondon.co.uk. Sauces and pastes for cooking Thai at home at payst.co.uk.