I never meant to make this dinner. I originally intended to use my mock duck to make vegan duck pancakes, but had a bit of a supermarket failure. What is a supermarket failure? It’s when you go to the supermarket and fail to get what you went there for. I went in with Chinese pancakes on my list, and left without them. Simple as that. Except, things got more complicated because I had all the ingredients for the aforementioned pancakes, and nothing else.
But don’t worry, this isn’t a tale of woe and despair, it’s a tale of how I ended up with hoisin duck and pineapple rice and a delicious dinner instead.
Before the supermarket woe was the desire of a Friday night ‘fakeaway’…. C’mon, I know I’m not the only one who does them! Usually, my fakeaway of choice is a homemade curry – lately I’ve been cooking my way through various delights from Vegan Richa’s book, but if we’re short of time (or, more often than not, if I’m short of patience) I’ll whip up a quick chana saag masala. However, occasionally I’ll make something different – like Chinese, in this case.
You see, although I’m usually an Indian-food kinda girl – I converted my husband to it almost immediately after the started dating – sometimes his original Chinese-food loving self comes through, and he’ll fancy Chinese for tea.
Depending on how virtuous we’re feeling, we’ll either cook at home or order in, since we’re lucky enough to live near a practically vegan Chinese restaurant. This was one of those virtuous times, originally. Tighten the old purse-strings, look in the cupboard and cross your fingers, times!
From crispy duck pancakes
The main feature is, obviously, the mock duck. The duck is actually made from seitan, and looks disturbingly, well duck like when it comes out of the tin. You could use your own homemade seitan as well, but I’ve not tried that yet. This is my go-to easy Chinese recipe, which means convenience is queen.
Likewise, the hoisin sauce is just a regular sauce from the supermarket, sweetened with a little maple syrup. The inspiration originally came from crispy duck pancakes, as I mentioned, but my supermarket failure meant I had all the cravings and none of the important ingredients. But, what I did have was hoisin sauce, and mock duck!
Rice rice baby
The pineapple rice was a bit of an evolution. The first time I made rice with this dish, I made ginger rice. But it lacked any really oomf on my palette. The rice didn’t have spicy ginger kick, or the sweet ginger flavour of baked cakes (thank goodness) and, like Goldilocks, I wanted the best of both worlds
Enter.. pineapple. I’m having a bit of a food-love affair with pineapple at the moment. It’s going on pizzas. It’s going in stir fries. It’s going straight out of the tin, or off the chopping board, into my mouth. And now, apparently, it’s going in rice!
But, trust me, it works.
No time?
Of course, if you’re pushed for time (or patience!) simply knock off the pineapple rice from the recipe and serve with your favourite cooked rice. I fully admit that this one is a bit of a…faff, compared to simply boiling or steaming some rice on it’s own. But it’s worth it.
The ginger and chilli and a wonderful heat, whilst the pineapple chunks bring a simple, natural sweetness that also compliments the hoisin duck.
Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself!
Hoisin Duck and Pineapple Rice
Ingredients
(Vegan) Hoisin Duck
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- ½-1 tsp chilli flakes
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 285g tin mock duck
- 1 red onion thinly sliced
- 3 spring onions green parts only, chopped
Pineapple Rice
- 1 cup dry brown rice
- 1 430g tin pineapple slices in juice
- 1-1½ cups water
- ½ cup frozen peas
Instructions
- To make the sauce, combine the hoisin sauce, cornflour, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, maple syrup, chilli flakes, garlic powder and ground ginger in a bowl. Whisk together. Set aside.¼ cup hoisin sauce, 1 tbsp cornflour, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp maple syrup, ½-1 tsp chilli flakes, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp ground ginger
- Drain the juice from the pineapple into a jug. Top up with the water until you have 2 1/2 cups. Pour into a medium saucepan with the dry brown rice and bring to a gentle boil.1 cup dry brown rice, 1 430g tin pineapple slices in juice, 1-1½ cups water
- Chop the pineapple into chunks and, add it to the rice after it has been boiling for about 10 minutes.1 430g tin pineapple slices in juice
- Meanwhile, spritz a frying pan with a little oil and place over a medium-high heat. Drain the mock duck, chop the duck into thin slices, then add it to the frying pan. Cook until it's starting to brown (about 5 minutes), then remove from the pan and set aside.1 285g tin mock duck
- Add some water or a little oil to the saucepan, add the sliced onions and stir fry until translucent, about 10 minutes.1 red onion
- Once the onions are cooked, turn the heat right down and return the mock duck to the saucepan. Add about 2/3 of the chopped spring onions. Pour in the prepared sauce and stir together. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a gentle boil.3 spring onions
- While waiting for the sauce to warm through, add the frozen peas to the rice - they should only take a few minutes to cook.½ cup frozen peas
- Serve on warmed plates, sprinkled with sesame seeds and the remaining spring onions.
