Step 1

Heat your oven to 400ºF (200ºC) with the convection fan on if you have it.

Step 2

To shred the shrooms, run a fork along the stem of the mushroom a few times to score the outside. Then hold it over a bowl and shred into biggish pieces by hand. The scoremarks really just help to guide the pulls. Shred up the caps too.

Step 3

Add the garlic, five-spice, salt, pepper, sesame oil, and soy sauce to the bowl. Toss everything together with your hands until it’s all good and coated.

Step 4

Heat up a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Swirl in a little cooking oil, then add the shrooms and get ‘em into a somewhat even layer. Let ‘em cook a few minutes. You want them to brown pretty good on the bottom. Drizzle on the agave when the shrooms start to soften up and brown.

Step 5

Meanwhile, mince up the garlic and ginger together. Julienne the cucumber into thin strips about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long. I use a mandoline but a knife and steady hand works too. Chop 1 of the chiles, the green onion, and the mint. Put the cucumber strips in a bowl and add about half the garlic-ginger mix. Add the chiles, green onion, and mint too, along with the remaining 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil and pinch of black pepper. Hold off on salt: it’ll just draw moisture out of the cukes and make the sandwich soggy. Mix that all together, then pop it in the fridge to keep it cool.

Step 6

Stir the mushrooms so they caramelize all over; some bits will be dark brown, some lighter brown. When they’re good and brown, add the rest of the ginger-garlic mix andthe Wicked Kitchen Sticky Teriyaki Sauce. Stir it in good as it sizzles and bubbles. Then transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 10 to 15 minutes to crisp it up a bit. Transfer the cooked mushrooms to a bowl.

Step 7

Put the shroom pan back over medium heat and add the vegan butter. When it’s melted, toast the buns in the pan, swishing them around to soak up all the flavor bits in the pan. I like to put a lid on to help steam the buns a bit to soften them up.

Step 8

Load the crispy “duck” shrooms on the bottom buns then top with the cucumber salad.Chomp down on those bad boys. You won’t be disappointed!