Roast Duck Noodle Soup

 

I didn’t know that this simple soup, may look complicated to some, would be so popular until so many people have been asking for its recipe. So, I’ve decided to put it into writing to tell you how easy it is to cook it at home. Firstly, you need a courage to ask…why I said that? Nothing is really free but if you ask you have a 50% chance of getting it … I was shy to ask too, but at my favourite roast duck shop I simply ask if I could get leftover duck heads when I bought a roast duck. The shop lady is very nice and she gives me, a regular customer, duck heads and bones for free, by the way some shops charge 50 cent for each duck head – not a big deal.

So, to cut it short, that day I was very lucky, the shop lady gave me a lots and said she had a big roast duck order, normally she doesn’t have that many in the morning. She actually gave me two big bags, about 6-7 duck heads and frames, even though I was asking for only one bag. What a nice lady she was, she made my day!! Couldn’t wait to get home to cook.

Wait … next I had to get two packs of fresh egg noodles and some bok choi (sometimes I use choi sim) to add to my soup.

Got home, I brought a big pot of water to the boil, add the duck heads and bones, add a carrot (cut into four pieces), an onion, one stick of celery (cut into 3-4cm lengths), a few cloves of garlic and salt to taste. When the water starts boiling, after adding the duck bones and vegetables, turn the heat to low and simmer for a couple of hours (if you are in hurry, you can turn to medium heat). 

However, if you only have only 2-3 duck heads and frames you have to do something to make you stock tastier. I mean you need a big “makeup” for your soup – you need to add extra ingredients in the stock-  a couple of star anises, 1-2 cinnamon sticks, a bit of five spices (optional), few black peppercorns, ½ bulb of garlic, a bit of soy sauce and 1-2 slices of ginger. Those extra ingredients are normally used to make roast duck, so they should help adding the right flavour to your soup.

The rest is easy: blanch the bok choi in salty boiling water for 1-2 minutes and drained (it depends on how soften you want the green leaves to be). Boil the egg noodles until just tenderly soft but not over cooked because you are going to add boiling duck stock to the noodle before served. Add duck meat on top of the noodles soup and garnish with chopped spring onions (optional).

 

Finally, Bon Appetit! A nice hot roast duck noodle soup is ready. Enjoy!!

 

Jean 

Northern Thai Noodles Soup

Northern Thai Noodles Soup - Khanom Jin Nam Ngiao. We have been looking forward to cooking this dish especailly during the tomato season. It seriously tastes great and once cooked I could not stop eating it, from breakfast to dinner. The broth is authentically made of simmer pork ribs, pork mince, mixture of spice paste, tomatoes, chicken/pork blood (I left it out) and dried red cotton flower called ‘kapok’. It may be new for you but if you have a chance, have a go, you may be surprised.

Happy Lunar New Year

 Happy Lunar New Year- Yee Sang

Gingerbread Men

 Christmas is around the corner, my little girl enjoys baking gingerbread men to welcome Santa. 

Christmas voucher is available from now! Please visit our new website or contact us. 

125 g unsalted butter, soften

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup golden syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 ½ cups plain flour, sifted

1 tsp ginger powder 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

 

3/4 cup pure icing sugar

1 tablespoons boiling water

Any food colours (optional) 

1.    Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush 2 baking trays with melted butter to lightly grease.

2.    Use an electric beater to beat the butter, sugar and egg in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and vanilla, beat until combined. Stir in the flour, ginger powder, ground cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

3.    Place the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out until about ½ cm thick. Use a gingerbread man cutter to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 3cm apart. Repeat with any excess dough.

4.    Bake in oven for 10 -12 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Transfer to a rack to cool.

5.      To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a medium bowl. Gradually add 15 ml (1 tablespoon) of the boiling water and mix until smooth. The icing should be a coating consistency. 

6.    Place the icings in small plastic bags. Cut a small hole in a corner of each bag. Pipe icing over gingerbread men to decorate. Finish with Smarties.

One pot fragrant pumpkin rice

Happy Halloween!! This is a dish that we cook when we have a big pumpkin- One pot fragrant pumpkin rice. 

Mix all ingredients below into a bowl to marinade:

150 g chicken thigh fillet or pork, cut into small pieces

2 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoon oyster sauce

¼ teaspoon white pepper

½ teaspoon salt or to taste

 

2 tablespoons vegetables oil

1/3 cup dried shrimp, soaked into hot water for 5 minutes, drained

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 cm ginger, shredded

150 g pumpkin flesh, diced

 

2 cups basmati rice, washed and drained

3 ¼ cups water (for normal rice, 2 cups of rice with 3 cup water)

 

1.    Marinate the chicken with the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and set aside for at least 10 minutes.

2.    Heat oil into the fry-pan or wok, fry the dried shrimps until fragrant. Add garlic and ginger, fry until the garlic lightly brown. Add pumpkin and chicken and keep stir fry until the chicken nearly cooked. Pour it into rice cooker.

3.    Add rice and water and into the rice cooker and let it cooks.

4.    Serve hot and garnish with sliced spring onion or coriander leaves.

 

Jean's Asian Cooking class in Melbourne

 Dear valuable customers,

Finally, we are open our cooking classes in Melbourne as restrictions have been eased. For the safety of our customers and community, we are only open for online classes. Please contact us via contact details below for further information. 

Our new website: https://www.jeanasiancooking.com/

Email: jeancookingclass@gmail.com

Phone: 0434 895 893

3 Flavours Tofu

 3 Flavours Tofu

This is one of my childhood favourite dishes. Sarah also loves this dish very much, she always complains why I only cook half a box 😁. My mum normally uses Japanese eggs tofu but I use whatever tofu that I can find in the market. It is so simple to cook apart from frying the tofu. Happy cooking!

 

Ingredients:

450 g semi-firm tofu (half box), cut into cubes or rectangles

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in water for 5 minutes and drained

2 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced

2-3 tbsp ginger flowers, chopped

 ¾ cup sweet chilli sauce or to taste

A pinch of salt (optional)

 

1.    Shallow fry the tofu until golden colour.

2.    Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan or wok, saute dried shrimps until fragrant. Add garlic and stir fry until slightly brown. Add kaffir time leaves and ginger flowers, stir for another minute. Add sweet chilli sauce and bring to the boil.

3.    Add fried tofu. Stir fry until the tofu is coasted with the sauce. Serve hot. 

                                                                         Ingredients

                                                                   3 flavours tofu