← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 4 duck legs (about 1 kg)
• 3 tbsp rice wine or Shaoxing wine
• ¼ tsp Chinese five-spice
• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 5 cloves Garlic, peeled
• 3 Shallot, peeled
• 5 cm piece Ginger, sliced
• 1 Onion, quartered
• 1.75 l Water
• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked
• 8 Dried jujubes (Korean red dates)
• 3 Star anise
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tsp Dark soy sauce
• ½ tbsp Oyster sauce
• 2 tsp rock sugar or sugar
• 1½ tbsp Dried goji berries (optional)
• 400 g fresh egg noodles
• 300 g baby bok choy, halved
• 2 Spring onion, sliced
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro), chopped

Method

1. Rub the duck legs with the wine, five-spice and dark soy and leave for 30 min.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat and brown the duck skin side down for 8–10 min, until much of the fat has melted out and the skin is deep brown. Turn and brown the other side for 2 minutes. Lift out and pour off all but 1 tbsp fat.
3. Fry the garlic, shallots, ginger and onion in the fat for 2 minutes. Add the water, shiitake, jujubes, star anise, soy sauce, dark soy, oyster sauce and sugar and return the duck.
4. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer gently for 1–1½ hours, until the duck is very tender. Skim off excess fat. Add the goji berries for the last 5 min and taste for salt and sweetness.
5. Cook the noodles according to the packet and blanch the bok choy in the same water for 1 minute. Divide between bowls, add a duck leg, mushrooms and dates, and ladle over the broth. Finish with spring onion and coriander.

Tips

• Contains wheat, egg and soy.
• The braise tastes even better the next day; chill it overnight and lift off the set fat before reheating.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Delightful Plate Vicky Pham