Duck noodle soup

“This is a great way to make a delicious and wholesome family dinner using a store-bought Chinese roast duck. If you live somewhere where this might be difficult to find or duck isn’t your thing you can use a supermarket barbecue chicken instead with equally yummy results. I like to use rice stick noodles but any noodle you like is fine.” Poh Ling Yeow, Poh & Co. 2

• serves

  4

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 whole Chinese-style roast duck (see note)
• 3 litres water
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3–4 cm piece ginger, finely shredded
• 3 spring onions, cut into 1 cm long slices
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
• ½ tsp sesame oil
• 5–6 leaves pickled mustard leaves (see Note), thinly sliced
• 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 300 g flat rice stick noodles
• 2 cups beansprouts
• 1 bunch choy sum or other Asian greens, cut into 5 cm lengths
• 1 fresh long red chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 cup coriander leaves
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• ¼ cup deep-fried shallots (optional; see Note)

Instructions

Break the duck into joints, remove the skin, then scrape off and discard all the fat and cut into 5 mm thick strips. Remove all the meat from the bones and shred. Set aside.

Place the bones and water in a stockpot and bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes or until the stock has reduced by one-third.

Meanwhile, place the oil, garlic, ginger and spring onion in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant and golden. Add the Shaoxing and bring to a simmer to deglaze the pan, then immediately remove from the heat and add the sesame oil.

Strain the stock through a strainer, discarding the bones and returning to the stockpot. Place over medium heat and add the garlic mixture. Add the shiitakes, pickled mustard leaves and shredded duck meat and skin and bring to the boil, then cook for 20 minutes. Remove the shiitakes, slice and return to the broth.

Just before serving, separately blanch the beansprouts and choy sum in a saucepan of boiling water for a few seconds. Drain and set aside. Cook the noodles in a saucepan in plenty of boiling water until just tender. Divide the drained noodles and vegetables among 4 bowls and ladle enough broth into each bowl to cover the noodles, then top with the chilli and coriander. Garnish with spring onion and fried shallots and serve immediately.

Note

• Chinese-style roast duck can be found in Chinese roast meat restaurants or the refrigerator section of some supermarkets)

• Deep-fried shallots are available from Asian food stores and the Asian food section of larger supermarkets.

Photography, styling and food preparation by china squirrel.

Poh & Co. 2 Thursdays at 8.30pm on SBS.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.