Vietnamese Duck Noodle Soup (Mi Vit Tiem)

🧂 Ingredients

• 4 duck legs

  (about 2.25 lbs or 1kg)
• 2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, crushed
• 1/4 cup rice wine

  (or sake, white wine)
• 1/4 teaspoon five-spice powder
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon crushed and roughly chopped shallots
• 1/2 tablespoon crushed and roughly chopped garlic
• 6-7 cups water

  (see Notes)
• 8 red dates
• 1 1/2 tablespoons goji berries
• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms

  (about 0.35oz or 10g)
• 4 star anises
• 1 black cardamom pod, crushed open
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

  (or 2-3 fresh cilantro roots or stems)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 shallots, peeled
• 1 thumb-sized pieces of ginger
• 1 onion, peeled
• 1-2 teaspoons rock sugar

  (to taste, or see Notes for subsitute)
• yellow wheat-based noodles

  (such as egg noodles or ramen-style noodles)
• blanched green vegetables

  (such as baby bok choy)
• thinly-sliced scallions
• thinly-sliced cilantro

Instructions

• 1 In a mixing bowl, add duck legs and massage with crushed ginger and rice wine.
  This helps eliminate any gamy odors. Rinse and pat dry. Then marinate the duck
  legs with five-spice powder, dark soy sauce, crushed shallots and garlic for
  20-30 minutes.
• 2 Set the oven broiler to high. Shake off bits of aromatics in the marinade from
  the duck legs, and place the duck legs skin side up on a wired rack over a lined
  baking tray. Broil until the skin is blistered and golden with some darkened
  spots (about 10 minutes).
• 3 While marinating the duck legs, soak the red dates, goji berries and dried
  shiitake mushrooms in room temperature water for about 10 minutes. Rinse and
  drain.
• 4 After the duck legs have been broiled, add water, red dates, goji berries, dried
  shiitake mushrooms, star anises, black cardamom pod, coriander seeds, soy sauce,
  dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic cloves, shallots and onion to a
  heavy-bottomed pot. Bring it to a boil, add the duck legs, and then lower to a
  simmer.
• 5 Simmer the broth with the lid askew until the duck meat is tender and can be
  easily picked out with chopsticks (about 80-90 minutes). Skim off foams while
  simmering. If the broth has too much duck fat, skim off most of it, otherwise
  the dish might be too greasy.
• 6 Taste the broth and add rock sugar to taste, and adjust seasonings to your
  likings. If too much liquid is lost during cooking, you can add back a splash of
  water.
• 7 Add noodles and blanched green vegetables to serving bowls. Place a duck leg in
  each bowl, sprinkle some scallions and cilantro on top. Then ladle the hot soup
  into the bowls and serve immediately.

Nutrition Info