Peking Duck Noodle Soup

One of our favourite dishes to order at a Chinese restaurant is the Peking Duck. This dish is frequently ordered in two courses to make the most out of the bird - the crispy skin is wrapped up in a thin flour pancake and eaten with a sweet bean sauce, while the fragrant meat is stir fried with crunchy vegetables and wrapped up in a fresh lettuce leaf. 

Less frequently ordered is the third course - a soup made from the duck bones. The roasted bones impart a smoky flavour to the soup and is sometimes served with tofu and Chinese cabbage. At Quanjude (the Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing), the bones from all of their ducks are cooked for a long time to create a flavoursome soup. 

Chop the duck bones so they fit in your pot

If you don't order this third course, most restaurants will let you take the roast duck carcass home. I usually go for this option as it leaves room for a different menu item, and it provides the base for an easy meal later on in the week. Creating the broth is as simple as cooking the duck bones in boiling water for an hour and enjoying the lovely aroma that wafts through the house. 

Peking Duck Noodle Soup Ingredients:
bok choy, duck meat (from the carcass), noodles, and bone broth

Instead of making a soup to accompany a meal, I like to add noodles to the broth to create a hearty one pot meal. There is usually a lot of meat left on the carcass which, too, can be used as part of the dish. What I like about this dish is that there are no limits to what you can add - the ingredients I have listed are merely what I had on hand at the time.

You can use any noodles, but these are my fave

You can also use any kind of noodles, although I think the firmer types like egg noodles are the most suitable. My favourite are these Taiwanese style noodles which have a chewy texture and hold up well in the broth. A thin pasta, such as spaghettini, would also work well.

Do you like Peking Duck? Have you ever had the third course?

Peking Duck Noodle Soup  (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

1 Peking Duck carcass
10 cups cold water
salt to taste
1/2 packet Taiwan style noodles
2 bok choy
marinated eggs and other noodle toppings to serve (optional)

Method:

1. Break down the duck carcass in to smaller pieces and place into a large pot.
2. Add cold water to the pot and bring to the boil. Once the pot starts boiling, reduce the heat and let the stock simmer for one hour.
3. Remove the duck bones and set aside to cool. Add noodles to the boiling stock and cook according to packet instructions.
4. While the noodles are cooking, carefully remove any duck meat from the bones and set aside as a noodle topping.
5. When the noodles are almost cooked through, add in bok choy leaves to cook for the last minute or two. 
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Place noodles, bok choy, and duck meat in a large bowl, along with any other toppings you have chosen.
8. Ladle the hot broth over the other ingredients and serve.

Pig Stomach Soup - A Confinement Meal

Dearest readers,

It has been a while. Over a year, in fact.

Other than the usual excuses such as work and life in general, the main reason for my year long hiatus is that I have been busy checking off an important life milestone... 

Baby Charlie

Around seven weeks ago, Jason and I welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world. In the months leading up to this, I battled immense tiredness and thus spent most of my free time sleeping. Now, I spend most of my day hanging out with baby Charlie, snatching little bits of free time when he sleeps.

During the first month of Charlie's life, I was incredibly lucky to have my parents nearby to cook meals and help out around the house so I could rest up. During this time, I observed the Chinese tradition of confinement.

Traditionally, the Chinese mother observes a month of confinement following labour to concentrate on her own recovery and bonding with her baby. Confinement, or "zuo yue zi", involves an extensive set of rules mostly focused on preventing "dampness" from entering the body and restoring "heat" and "qi". Staying inside a completely closed up house, avoiding showers and cold water helps to keep the damp away while recovery is helped along by consuming a variety of heat restoring foods. 

One of my favourite meals during this month was pig stomach soup. Traditional Chinese Medicine believes this soup warms the stomach, invigorates qi and fortifies the body. The addition of red dates, lotus seeds, and pepper help to replenish blood loss and warm the body.

The soup is also delicious so I have made it a couple times after the end of my confinement. After all, what is better than a hot bowl of soup on a cold day? 

Trimming fat from the inside of the pig stomach

For those who haven't cooked with it before, raw pig stomach is quite smelly. A bit of preparation is required to remove the mucous membrane and extra fat to get rid of the slime and smell. This sounds gross but, once cooked, the taste is very mild.

My local butcher sells pre-cleaned pig stomachs which speeds up the process for me but, for those of you who don't have that luxury, Annielicious Food blog has a great how-to which explains the process.

Stir frying mushrooms, red dates, spring onion, and peppers

Texture-wise, pig stomach has a firm, chewy texture so it requires a long cooking time to soften. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, pig offal should be boiled at least twice to properly fortify our bodies and organs and, because I am impatient, I use a pressure cooker to speed up the process.

My dad stuffing pig stomach

The other ingredients are fried briefly to release their aroma. Stuffing the pig stomach with the other ingredients helps to infuse the soup while protecting their integrity during the double cooking process. 

Use scissors to cut open 

For the last cook, the pig stomach is cut into bite sized pieces and the other ingredients are released into the soup. Using a pair of food scissors removes the need to wait for the soup to cool down and means that all the flavours are kept within the soup!

If you are looking to try offal, this is a great introduction. The soup is light and peppery and the soft, chewy pieces pig stomach offer a nice bite.

Pig Stomach Soup (serves 4)



Ingredients:

50g dried white lotus seeds
5 red dates, seeds removed
5 dried black Chinese mushrooms
1 pig stomach, cleaned and trimmed
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon peppercorns, crushed
5cm of spring onion (white part)
Soy sauce for serving
Shaoxing wine for serving

Method:


1. Soak lotus seeds, red dates, and Chinese mushrooms for at least three hours to hydrate
2. Stuff lotus seeds into the cleaned pig stomach and seal off the cavity with a bamboo skewer. Place into a pressure cooker and fill the pot with enough water to cover. Lock the lid and cook on high until pressure is reached. Turn the heat to low and cook for a further 10 minutes
3. While the pressure cooker is going, roughly chop the dates, mushrooms and spring onion. Heat up sesame oil in shallow pan and quickly stir fry these ingredients along with the peppercorns until fragrant. Turn off heat and set aside until the pressure cooker 
4. When the pressure in the pressure cooker has been released, add the stir fried ingredients to the cavity and seal it off again
5. Return the pressure cooker to high heat. When pressure is reached, turn the heat to low and cook for a further 5 minutes
6. When the pressure has released, use a pair of clean food scissors to cut open the pig stomach into bite size pieces. Alternatively, you can transfer the pig stomach onto a chopping board and cut open with a knife (make sure it is cool enough to handle first)
7. Return all ingredients to the pressure cooker and cook on high for 5 minutes or until the pig stomach is soft
8. Serve hot. Season individual bowls with soy sauce and Shaoxing wine to taste

Sage and Kumara Soup

I was about 12 or 13 when I had my first taste of pumpkin soup. Up until then, the only pumpkin flavoured food I had was in the form of dessert (pumpkin and red bean anyone?) and the idea of a savoury pumpkin sounded absolutely absurd. And herbs? My Chinese palate had yet to discover those!

I remember being quite excited about pumpkin soup, thinking how lucky my friends were to be able to have what is essentially a dessert for a meal. I can proudly tell you that I was ever so polite and finished my meal but I was thoroughly confused. 

I went home and shared this revelation with my mother who, incidentally, had experienced the same thing just a few months prior -with Kumara soup. At home, our idea of kumara soup is to boil large chunks of kumara in hot water. That's it. It doesn't sound terribly exciting but I can assure you it is tasty.

We bonded over crazy western foods that night.

Since then, my palate has developed considerably and there is not a lot I won't eat. While pureed soup is not my ultimate favourite food, it is up there on my list of winter warmers because it is so easy to make but packed full of goodness. 

If you have find yourself a little short of time after work this week, give this Sage and Kumara Soup a try. Everything cooks in one pot so clean up is also a breeze!

Sage and Kumara Soup
(Serves 4, adapted from Mindfood, June 2015 issue)

Ingredients:

1 Tbs olive oil
4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces
2 onions, roughly sliced
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1.2 kg golden kumara, peeled and chopped
1 Tbs sage, roughly torn
1.5 L chicken or vegetable stock

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add bacon and fry until crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Keep the oil and bacon fat in the pan.
2. Add onions and 1/3 cup of stock. Use a wooden spoon to uplift any bacon bits that have stuck to the pan. Cook until onion is soft and translucent and the stock is mostly evaporated.
3. Add garlic and stir until fragrant.
4. Add kumara, sage and remaining stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until the kumara is soft.
5. Use a stick blender to puree the kumara until smooth and season with salt and pepper.
6. Sprinkle bacon bits on top and serve with warm bread.

Hot and Sour Soup

I've recently been caught in a very busy time at work - I'm talking almost 60 hour weeks and coming in on the weekends type stuff. I usually have a pretty good work-life balance, but it was thrown out the window when we encountered some very tight deadlines.

I complained about this sudden increased workload to my friend but, instead of getting sympathy like I had expected, I got a "this is not normal for you? I always work 60 hours a week!" 

That shut me up quick.

Luckily, the busy spell is now over and I can share one of my favourite quick meals with you. The bright flavours wake me up and makes it a perfect pick-me-up after a long day. Best of all, it doesn't take very long to make!

My hot and sour soup is mostly made up of staples I have at home - eggs, a stock cube, bamboo shoots and tomatoes and coriander from the garden. The only thing we had to buy on the day was tofu. 

The stock and preserved vegetable packet provides enough salt to the dish, so the only extra flavour that is added is a tablespoon of white vinegar and a table spoon of chili oil to give the soup its hot and sour notes. The bamboo shoots and preserved veggies bring a nice crunch while the tofu brings a softer touch.

Pretty much every Chinese family has their own take on Hot and Sour Soup and this one is just my very own variation. My mother likes to add pork in hers, but I eventually phased that out to make it suitable for my many vegetarian friends. 

What do you like to cook after a long day out? Do you have your own variant of Hot and Sour Soup?

Hot and Sour Soup
A Lucyeats Original

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil
4-6 medium sized tomatoes, sliced into wedges
1 Tbs Shaoxing wine
250g bamboo shoots (in strips)
1 80g packet of preserved vegetables (in strips)
3 cups stock (use chicken or vegetable)
4 medium sized eggs, beaten
2 tsp cornflour
2 Tbs cold water
1 Tbs white vinegar
1 Tbs chili oil
250g block of tofu, roughly sliced into thick strips
white pepper and chopped coriander to serve

Method:

1. Heat up the vegetable oil in a deep saucepan or wok over medium heat. 
2. When the oil gets hot, Add the tomatoes and stir until the skins start to come off. Add the Shaoxing wine and let cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the preserved vegetables, bamboo shoots and stock and bring to a boil.
4. Slowly drizzle the beaten egg into the soup, stirring as you go, to create light egg ribbons.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the cornflour and cold water into a slurry. Add the slurry until the soup thickens into the desired consistency.
6. Add the chili oil and white vinegar to taste.
7. Turn off the heat and add tofu.
8. Ladle into bowls and add white pepper and coriander to serve.

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup

Not to blow my own trumpet, but this is the best chicken and sweetcorn soup I've ever had -probably because it's tailored exactly to my own tastes and I've had years to perfect it. It's also easy to make and very very comforting to have on a cold, winters day. Kids love this too. I almost always get requests for my chicken and sweetcorn soup when family friends with children come over.

Step 4: Mixing through the celery

This was also one of my favourite things to have at Chinese restaurants but, as I got older, I slowly caught on to how much of a rip off a bowl of this could be. Six WHOLE dollars for one little bowl of soup with only a few pieces of chicken?! I think not. Little Lucy had grown wise -it only cost her about $7 to make a whole pot (Sorry, I'm not entirely sure why I'm referring to myself in the third person)!

So you start off with some shredded chicken. Your deli will have some pre-shredded or pPerhaps you have some left over from the roast you had last night?

 The best thing about homemade soups is that you know exactly what's gone in it and each chunk you come across is no longer mysterious. At this point Jason reminds me that, growing up, he's never had soup with chunks in it and I conclude it must be a Chinese thing -puréeing soups is not done where I come from. It's much more satisfying having something to bite into. Anyone else with me on that one?

Pile on the celery. In case you haven't noticed, this is a few steps on from the previous picture

Well.. there's not much more for me to say except that winter is coming up (or is it here already?) and I highly recommend this recipe. It goes great with some garlicky bread and a warm fire of sorts. I can't promise you that it's authentic because, well.. What is authentic anyway? I can tell you that I've never seen this soup on a menu in China although I can promise you that it's delicious and your tastebuds (and your stomach) will thank you for it!

This was my lunch. I had another bowl an hour after that. I couldn't resist.

 Sorry, I have kept this post short because I've just come home from lunch and am currently suffering from a food coma. Perhaps I'll sleep it off..


Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup, Lucy style (serves about 6 but you can keep it for a few days in the fridge. I prefer to eat it all myself)

Ingredients:

1 Tbs oil
200g bacon, coarsely chopped
300g cooked chicken, shredded
2 cans creamed corn
4 cups cold water, added at different times
1/4 celery, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbs cornflour (makes it nice and goopy)
Soy sauce to taste
Pepper to taste (I like to use both black and white pepper)
* Note: You can also use chicken stock in place of water in which case you won't need the soy sauce.

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large pot and add bacon until it starts to brown.
2. Throw in the shredded chicken and creamed corn and mix through.
3. Pour 1 cup of water and stir through and reduce the heat.
4. When the mixture starts to bubble, add celery and 2 more cups of water and stir through.
5. Dissolve the cornflour in the last cup of water and add to the pot when it starts to bubble. (Note: it is very important that you add it when the mixture is bubbling, otherwise it won't mix through your soup properly and you'll get lumps throughout)
6. Pour beaten eggs in a thin stream while stirring so it is distributed through the whole soup.
7. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. (I use soy sauce because I like the reddish hue it brings to the colour of my soup. Feel free to use salt instead).