Place the duck legs in a sandwich bag with the soy sauce, five-spice,
star anise, cinnamon stick and olive oil and let them marinate for a
minimum of 2 hours. To really get the flavours going, you could keep
this in your fridge to marinate for up to 2 days. Then get yourself a
pan, casserole or high-sided roasting tray that snugly fits the duck
legs. Place the chillies, plums and sugar in the bottom of the tray and
then pour the marinade from the bag over the top. Mix it all up using
your fingers, and place the duck legs on top.
Place the tray in a preheated oven at 170°C/325°F/gas 3 for 2 to 2½
hours until the meat falls away from the bone. Remove the star anise
and cinnamon stick, then taste the sauce to see if it needs to be
seasoned with a little more soy sauce. It’s now down to you how you
would like to serve it. You could have it as a starter with some of the
little Chinese pancakes that you can buy, or served simply with rice or
noodles and the chunky, jammy plum sauce that the duck has cooked in.