Crispy duck and watercress salad

Serves 6-8 as a starter

This salad started off about 12 years ago - blimey, perhaps even longer - as a crispy pork and watercress salad. Sales of it were steady, but something told me to try using crispy duck instead of pork. The change turned the dish into an instant success and taught me to be a bit bolder with popular menu terminology; however high-street Chinese "crispy duck" might sound, the results are anything but.

1 x 1.5kg duck or 12 duck legs
Water to cover
3 pieces of star anise
1 head of garlic, roughly chopped
60g ginger, roughly chopped
20g coriander stalks, washed (use the leaves in the salad)
1tsp Chinese five-spice powder
For the duck sauce
4tbsp tomato ketchup
1tbsp honey
Juice of half an orange
1tbsp soy sauce
2tbsp sesame oil

For the soy and sesame dressing

2tsp soy sauce
2tsp rice vinegar
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
A small piece of root ginger, peeled and finely grated
1tbsp sesame oil
3tbsp vegetable or corn oil

For the salad

4 bunches watercress, washed, with thick stalks removed
110g white radish (mooli), peeled and cut into 1cm-wide ribbons
60g bean shoots, washed
1 bunch of spring onions, trimmed and shredded on the angle
Vegetable or corn oil for deep frying
The leaves from the coriander (see above)
1tbsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1-2 punnets of Asian sprouts or cresses, like shisho or mung (optional)

Cover the duck with the water, add the herbs and spices and simmer gently for 45 minutes. Remove the duck from the stock and set it aside to cool. Skim the fat off the stock and use it as a base to make an Asian soup.

Whisk together all the ingredients for the duck sauce, then seperately whisk all of the ingredients together for the soy dressing.

To assemble the dish, remove duck from the bone, then cut into 1cm-thick slices. Pre-heat the oil for deep frying.

Arrange the watercress on the plates with the white radish, bean shoots and spring onion.

Deep-fry the duck until crisp, then drain on some kitchen paper or in a colander and mix it with the duck sauce until it is nicely coated. Arrange it in piles on the salad and spoon over the dressing. Scatter the coriander and sesame seeds over the top (and sprouts if you are using them). Serve immediately.