Duck Noodle Soup

I walked into the Asian market only needing some tofu but walked out with over $80 of groceries and a whole roast duck. $1.28/lb white peaches, heck yeah! 99c/lb bok choy, yeah I need that too. Whoa, fish sauce is on sale?! Well, I still have some at home but it doesn’t hurt to have a backup right? As for the tofu I needed? Well, I got 2 shapes of deep fried tofu, a pack of pressed, firm, and silken. I had to restrain myself from those damn cute tofu knots.

The roast duck, which was also on sale so how could I not get it, was the highlight of the trip. I brushed the sweet plum sauce on the skin and reheated it in the toaster oven to restore the skin to its original crispness. I asked to keep the head and neck so I could turn it into duck stock. Then, putting that 99c bok choy to good use, I added it to the stock for a simple but perfect lunch - somen, roast duck, bok choy, in a simple duck soup. It's comfort food, Chinese style.

Simple Roast Duck Stock
1 roast duck head and neck and other bony pieces from the duck
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated and washed
2 thin slices of fresh ginger
3 green onions, roughly chopped
6 C water
salt and white pepper

Cover the mushrooms with some hot water for 5 minutes, then rinse them under running water to wash off any dirt hiding in the mushroom gills.

Rinse the duck pieces with some cold running water.

Put everything in a large saucepan and simmer for 2 – 3 hours and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Season with salt and pepper.

Duck Noodle Soup
Noodles of choice, I chose somen (I do 2 - 3oz. for a serving)
1 bok choy per person, leaves separated and washed, sliced lengthwise
Roast duck
Duck stock

If the roast duck came with a sweet, honey colored sauce, brush some of that on the skin. If not, thin some plum sauce or honey with a small amount of water and brush that on the skin. Depending on how hot the broiler element gets in your oven or toaster oven, you can either bake at 450 for 5 – 10 minutes or use the broiler for 5 – 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the duck so it doesn’t burn. My toaster oven broiler is relatively weak, so I reheated the duck using the broil function.

Cook your noodle of choice according to package instructions. Rinse under cold water, drain, divide, into bowls and set aside.

Bring the duck soup to a simmer, add the bok choy and cover, cook for about 1 – 2 minutes. You want the bok choy to be crunchy. Make sure it doesn’t turn translucent because that means it’s overcooked.

Pour the soup on the noodles, add the bok choy and duck on top.

Cold Soba

When exam crunch time rolls around, which is all too often, time is precious and there's very little of it that can be set aside to cook. Now, that's not to say I stop cooking all together, I just have to spend my time wisely. Anything that can be made in less than 30 minutes is good (as long as it's not remotely connected to Rachael Ray), less than 15 is ideal. Which brings me to one of my favorite meals, cold soba. It's simple, healthy, and delicious. I boil some noodles, make the dipping sauce while the noodles cook, and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds, seaweed, sliced green onions on at the end to make it look pretty because pretty food keeps the morale up while studying. It can be cooked, slurped, and the dishes washed in under 30 minutes. And it's healthier than ramen, which will be a post for another day.

Buckwheat is high in protein, good for your cardiovascular system, and just does a lot of great things for your body. When you buy soba noodles, make sure to look at the ingredients list, and if buckwheat is not the first ingredient you see, don't buy it. Preferably, the noodles should be 100% buckwheat. Cheaper, low quality noodles often cut their buckwheat with yam or other ingredients. Cold soba is particularly refreshing after a night of heavy takeout. If I have more time to spare, I'll pan fry some tofu to add on top and make a cucumber salad for a more complete meal.

Like most people, I rarely have dashi stock just sitting in the fridge so I usually just use water. Or I cheat by simmering some bonito and seaweed with the soy sauce and mirin when I'm making the sauce, let sit for a few minutes, and strain. If you have chicken stock or vegetable stock that will work too.

Cold Soba
Serves 2

2 bunches of soba noodles

Soba sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp mirin
1/2 tsp sugar (more to taste)
1/4 C Dashi stock (or chicken/vegetable stock or cheater dashi-see note)

Garnish
Toasted Seasame seeds
Sliced green onions
Seaweed slivers
Grated daikon

Boil water in a saucepan and cook the soba noodles according to package instructions.

While the noodles cook bring the ingredients for the sauce to a boil then remove from heat and set aside.

When the noodles are cooked, drain the soba noodles. Return them back to the pot and fill with cold water, swirl the noodles around, drain and repeat this process until the water is no longer starchy and cloudy. Put the drained noodles on a platter or bamboo tray. Top with whatever garnishes you want.

Pour a little sauce in a bowl, pick up some noodles, dunk in the sauce, and slurp to your heart's content.

Chinese Fried Noodles

Noodles in any shape or form are my weakness. They are why I would fail the Atkins diet so miserably. Well that and the fact that I eat rice almost everyday. Chinese stir-fried noodles are one of my favorite dishes because it's delicious and a cinch to make. Like fried rice, it's usually something I can make when I have nothing planned, throw some ingredients together, and it comes out so good every time that I can almost eat the whole pan myself. This is one of the dishes I cooked for Chinese New Year. It's traditional to eat noodle dishes for New Years and birthdays because the long strands symbolize long life. So don't cut your noodles! Slurp, slurp away to your heart's content!

In Chinese restaurants, this dish is usually called chicken, beef, happy family, etc. etc. chow mein, which is the Cantonese translation of pan fried noodles. In Mandarin we call it chao mian, which means the same thing. The dish is made with wheat or egg noodles. I like to use egg noodles because they have a chewier texture and have a pleasant yellow color. If you use rice noodles, it's called chow fun/chao feng. There's a lot of flexibility with this dish. You can use whatever protein and veggies you feel like. Chicken, shrimp, pork, BBQ pork, beef, tofu or a combination would work. You should cut your meat or tofu into strips so they're easier to eat with the noodles but you don't need to cut the shrimp, just peel and devein. I used some Chinese BBQ pork I made the day before. For the vegetables, it's best to use ones that can be julienned or cut into strips. So peas would not be a good idea but you can use carrots, cabbage, snow pea pods, celery, red bell pepper, baby bok choy, sprouts, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, the list can go on and on. I cook things in three stages. First the meat, then the veggies (adding meat to the veggies towards the end), then the noodles and then add everything together in the end to heat through and mix evenly. For a pound of noodles I use a pound of protein and this should serve about 4.

Notes:
- If you're starting with raw meat, use the marinade I included.
- If you're starting with cooked meats, then add the ginger slices to the oil when you're cooking the veggies in step 2
- If you're using mushrooms, you'll need to cook those first before adding the rest of the vegetables, cook them until they release their juices and the juices evaporate before adding the rest of the ingredients. Otherwise the rest of the veggies will get soggy.
- Mix the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar together in a little bowl before you add it to the noodles so you can add the seasoning in one step. Add more seasoning later if you need to.

Chinese Stir-Fried Noodles
1 16oz package of egg noodles fresh or dried
1 lb protein (chicken, beef, pork, BBQ pork, tofu, or shrimp) cut into strips (don't need to cut the shrimp)
I used about 2 cups of Chinese BBQ pork cut into sticks
Your choice of vegetables cut into strips or julienne and you can use however much you feel like
(Carrots, celery, snow peas, celery, baby bok choy, etc.)
I used 2 carrots (julienned) and 8oz. mushrooms (because I was a little short on veggies)
4 green onions, sliced in half lengthwise then cut into 2 inch lengths
3 - 4 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 slices ginger
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 Tbsp oyster sauce (more if needed)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar

Marinade for stir-fried meat
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine
1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp white pepper

If you're starting with raw meat (chicken, pork, beef, shrimp), use mix the strips of meat with the marinade until all the pieces are all coated. Set aside for 10 - 15 minutes.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to package intructions. Stop cooking the noodles when there's still a good chew. Drain, rinse in cold water, drain again, and set aside.

Now cook your protein. Heat a tablespoon of oil over high heat in a wok or skillet. First add the ginger slices and let it perfume the oil. Add the meat and stir fry until it's almost cooked through. We'll finish cooking it with the veggies. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

In the cleared pan, heat about 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of oil (depends on how much veggies you have) over medium high heat and stir fry the green onions, garlic, and the vegetables you're using. Season with a little salt, and stir fry until the vegetables are cooked but still crisp/crunchy and definitely not mushy. This shouldn't take too long. At this point, add the meat from step 1 back in to finish cooking with the veggies OR add your chopped precooked meat like Chinese BBQ pork to heat through. Set aside in a bowl.

In the cleared skillet heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat and add your noodles. Toss them around, get them well coated in the oil, and break up any clumps. If it's too sticky and clumpy, go ahead and add more oil. Pan fry the noodles, stirring and flipping them frequently until some of the noodles get a nice a crunchy golden brown exterior. Then season with the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Toss the noodles freuqntly and make sure everything is evenly coated with the sauce. Taste and see if it needs additional seasoning. You may wish to add more oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, or sugar. When the noodles are seasoned to your liking, add the proteins and vegetables and any liquid that may have accumulated in the bowl back into the skillet, toss until everything is evenly distributed into the noodles.

Pim's Pad Thai

Pad thai is my favorite food ever and I almost always order it at Thai restaurants. I can never get enough the fresh-from-the-wok noodles coated in lightly caramelized sauce perfectly balanced with the classic Thai flavor combination of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. I've tried various disappointing recipes at home resulting in one miserable attempt after another. One reason is because I used ketchup and that is my dirty shameful pad thai past. (I hope you don't read this Pim because I am so embarrassed.) Now that I've tried tamarind in my sauce, I know there is absolutely NO substitute for it because the flavor is irreplaceable and ketchup will never touch my rice noodles ever again.

Finding tamarind was a bit tricky. On my first try, I asked several employees of my local Asiam market where I could find this magical ingredient. Each led me to the different aisle (6, no 9, try 11?, maybe 4!) until finally one employee said the store didn't carry it. Though skeptical, I went home defeated. I bet it would have helped if I had known what it was called in Chinese. The next time, I returned absolutely determined on finding the ever elusive tamarind. I checked every aisle looking up and down the shelves until finally I saw a plastic container that had a picture of the brown knobbly fruit on it. Ah Hah! I found you! I scan the container for English and it says "Sour Fruit Soup Mix." "Hmm... maybe this is the wrong thing," I wondered. I checked the ingredients, which said "Sour Fruit" and water. I took a chance and crossed my fingers that it would be tamarind and not hot and sour soup mix when I opened it. Though I really wanted to find a brick of tamarind paste, this was the best I could do. Thankfully it was the right thing.

As for the recipe? Look no further than Pim's blog because this is the absolute best pad thai recipe ever!

Notes:
- You need the tamarind, no ketchup! Don't make the same mistake I did.
- For the sauce, like Pim says, the sourness of your tamarind, the saltiness of your fish sauce, and sweetness of your palm sugar will vary. Start with this base amount and adjust as you go. It should be salty, then sour, sweet, and spicy at the end. I find that Filipino and Thai fish sauces are saltier than Vietnamese fish sauce.
- If you have tamarind paste and need to reconstitute it, look at Pim's notes at the bottom of the recipe here
- You can replace the garlic chives with the green part of scallions/green onions if you can't find the chives.
- Use as much chives/green onions and bean sprouts as you like. I like a lot of both when I use chives and sprouts, I would use less green onions if I had to make the substitute. (pst veggies are good for you)
- If you can't find the preserved turnip and dried shrimp, it's okay since they're optional.
- It's best to make this portion by portion like Pim says. But I don't have a wok so I made the whole thing in a skillet and it turned out great but I bet it'll be even better in a wok made in a smaller portion.

Chez Pim's Pad Thai aka Best Pad Thai Ever (take that Cook's Illustrated)
Serves 2 - 3

Master Sauce
1/2 C tamarind concentrate
1/2 C fish sauce
1/3 C brown sugar (or 1/2 C palm sugar)
Thai chili powder/cayenne to taste

8 oz. rice noodles/sticks
Shrimp (peeled and deveined), chopped extra-firm or pressed tofu, or sliced chicken breast (I used about 8 oz. of shrimp and 4 oz. of tofu)
1 - 2 eggs depending on how much egg you like
2 C of chopped Chinese garlic chives (or green part of green onions but use less)
2 C bean sprouts (mung bean sprouts not soy bean sprouts)
4 Tbsp ground peanuts (minced or grind in a food processor)
Vegetable oil

Optional:
2 Tbsp minced pickled/preserved/salted turnip
2 Tbsp minced dried shrimp or pounded until fluffly with a mortar and pestle
A few cloves of minced or pressed garlic



Start by soaking your rice noodles in warm water if they're the dried kind. You'll only want to soak your noodles until they're pliable not completely soft. If you're using fresh noodles, give them a quick rinse and let them drain.

I also like to soak my dried shrimp in hot water for a few minutes then rinse them off.

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce and simmer until everything is dissolved. The fish sauce will smell sooooo bad (oh-my-goodness-feet-sauce-did-you-turn-on-the-vent bad) when it simmers but it tastes oh so good. Taste and adjust the seasoning of the sauce till you like it. I still haven't gotten it down quite right but the pad thai is still excellent. This will likely make enough sauce for plenty more portions of pad thai. You can keep it in your fridge or freezer (it doesn't freeze in the freezer).

Begin by heating 2 tablespoons of oil in your skillet or wok. Add your tofu and pan fry until golden brown. Then add your shrimp or chicken and cook and stir fry for a bit. Then add a few spoonfuls of your sauce and take out of the wok just before it is cooked through and set aside.

Drain your noodles before cooking. Add some more oil to your wok/skillet (2 tbsp to 1/4C) be generous since you don't want the noodles to stick. Add your noodles, turnip, shrimp, and garlic if using. Then add about 1/4 C (or 1/2 C of sauce if you're making the whole thing at once) and stir fry until the noodles are the edible. If the pan is getting too dry, add some water. Cook until the noodles are edible.

Add your eggs in the middle of the wok or skillet and let it set a bit before tossing it with the noodles.

Add your bean sprouts, garlic chives or green onions, and your protein. Keep on stir frying until the protein is fully cooked and warmed through.

Sprinkle with ground peanuts before serving. Serve with slices of lime and more chili powder.


(Yup I can pretty much eat this whole thing myself)