This summer roll recipe combines Vietnamese and Chinese
cooking. Tea-smoking is a simple Chinese cooking technique that infuses the gentle aromas and flavors of Szechuan peppercorns, tea, rice and star anise into meat, and it’s delicious with waterfowl. The smoke adds a different level of
complexity, and when added to Vietnamese summer rolls, you have a light
appetizer, perfect for the warmer months.
You can make these rolls a few hours ahead, wrapped in plastic wrap to keep the rice paper moist. Or to save on work and make the experience more interactive, offer all the prepared ingredients at the table and have your guests put together their own rolls.
Servings: 4 appetizers
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
– 4 wild duck breasts, skin on
– 1 small package rice paper
– 2 tsp. Szechuan peppercorns (dried prickly ash), ground
– Sea salt
– 1 tbs. olive oil
– 4 ounces rice vermicelli noodles (thin)
– 2 carrots, peeled and julienned
– 1 English cucumber, seeds removed and julienned
– Green lettuce, shredded
– Handful of fresh cilantro
– Handful of fresh mint
Tea-Smoking Mixture
– 2 pieces of star anise, ground
– 1/3 cup of black or jasmine tea leaves
– 1/4 cup of raw white rice
– 1 tbs. brown sugar
Peanut Sauce
– 1 tsp. Huy Fong chili garlic sauce, or to taste
– 3/4 cup chicken broth
– 3 tbs. peanut butter
– 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
– 1 tsp. sugar
– 1 tsp. fish sauce
– 1/2 tsp. crushed peanuts, for garnish
Special equipment: aluminum foil, steaming basket, mortar
and pestle
1. Follow package directions to cook vermicelli noodles.
Then allow cooked noodles to sit in a colander to dry for at least 1 hour. Grind
Szechuan peppercorns and star anise, separately. Set aside.
2. Season duck breasts with half of the ground peppercorns
and salt to taste. Line a pot with aluminum foil and pour remaining ground peppercorns
over the foil, along with tea leaves, ground star anise, white rice and brown
sugar. Sprinkle 1 tbs. of water over the mixture and set a steaming rack inside
the pot. Set aside.
3. Coat a pan with olive oil and heat over medium-high. Sear
duck until golden on both sides, and then place them skin side down onto the steaming
basket inside the pot. Turn heat to low/medium-low and when you start to see
smoking from the tea mixture underneath, close the lid and smoke the duck until
internal temperature reaches about 140 degrees. Then remove duck from the
“smoker” and allow to cool.
4. To make peanut sauce, combine all peanut sauce
ingredients except crushed peanuts and stir until smooth. Transfer to dipping
bowls and garnish with crushed peanuts.
5. Slice smoked duck into strips. Wet rice paper and fill
with duck breast pieces, julienned cucumber, carrot, lettuce, mint leaves,
cilantro and vermicelli noodles. Roll tightly and serve with peanut sauce for
dipping.
