Salted Vegetables and Duck Soup 咸菜鸭肉汤
Salted Vegetables and Duck Soup
This is one of my favourite Chinese soup. To me, a delicious salted vegetables and duck soup must not just be salty, it has to be hot and peppery as well. In my version, the heat comes from the white peppercorn, red chilli and ginger. Salted vegetables may not be the most healthy vegetable in the world, but this sure is tasty and an absolute guilty pleasure of mine!
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Ingredients
(Serves 4-6)
- 1/2 duck (roughly 1 kg), chopped to big pieces, skin removed & fats trimmed
- 300g salted vegetables, cut to smaller pieces (if you want, you can soak in water for about 10 minutes to reduce the saltiness; but I don’t)
- 2 large red chilli, cut into half lengthwise, seeds removed
- 2 tomatoes, quartered
- 4 cardamons, coarsely crushed (optional, see last photo)
- 1-2 tsp white peppercorn, coarsely crushed
- 20g of ginger, bruised or make cuts all over
- 1.7 litres of water
Ingredients: Cut salted vegetables, chilli and tomatoDirections
1. Blanch duck pieces in boiling water for 5 minutes to remove scum. Rinse under cold water and set aside.
2. In a deep soup pot, add water, blanched duck, salted vegetables, cardamons, white peppercorn and ginger. Bring to a boil.
3. Lower heat and add tomatoes. Simmer over low heat for about an hour. Taste the soup; it’s usually not necessary to season with more salt, but if needed, you can season with a tiny bit of light soy sauce. Serve with warm white rice and if you like, cut chilli padi in dark soy sauce as condiment.
Further ideas from comments -
- Add some pork ribs (200g, blanch with the duck pieces at step 1) to make the soup tastier. (thanks @ keropokman)
- Add cube tofu pieces to the soup about 5-10 minutes before you turn off the flame for 咸菜豆腐鸭汤. (thanks @ gertrude)
Ingredient: Cardamon
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{ 67 comments… read them below or add one }
Never try this before Wiffy! But looks delicious … Is that correct that duck meat will need more time to cook to get them tender?
I think duck needs more time to cook if it’s whole, like a roasted duck? I cut them to big chunks for boiling (just as would I cut chicken), so I didn’t really notice a significant difference in the time :)
The soup sounds very yummy! Your photos are always so beautiful.
this is another of my Ah Mah speciality that I miss terribly …. the next time i go to spore, can i call you and you make this soup for me? i will bring you whatever you want from kl. i am serious …i love this soup ALOT, so much, words cannot describe.
hehe u’re so cute! Not many people dare to eat my noob cooking :wink: Sure, I’ll be most glad to cook for you if you don’t mind my simple home-cooked fare ;)
Is Cardamon a secret ingredient? ;p
I only use that in Indian cooking!
yes cardamon is usually used in Indian, Mediterranean cooking but it flavours the duck soup in a nice subtle way here :)
Yummers. I love kiamchye n meat!
was wondering if the duck could be replaced by chicken for a healthier option
duck and salted vegetables is the famous combination for this Chinese classic, but I don’t see why you can’t substitute with chicken or pork ribs, or a combination of both or all 3 :)
Oh no….it’s so long since I last ate this dish. This looks so good! It’s very appetising. I must cook this.
Another great classic- I love especially the peppery taste as well!
Once in a while, we deserve a guilty pleasure! I loved how you presented all the ingredients in the 3rd shot. Great job on this making this soup. How can you call yourself a noob?! ;)
Oh, my mom didn’t cook this for us since long long time ago…kind of miss it now.
Yummy! I love this sour duck soup!
p/s I really love your chicken bowl set.
hehe aren’t they adorable? and lends an additional “traditional” and “authentic” feel when they are used for Asian food, well at least to me!
One of the things I love about your blog is I’m always seeing recipes I never would have heard of before. This looks great, if I can manage to find some duck I’ll have to try it out.
I also learn a lot about western food from your blog. hope you get a chance to try it out :)
This is one of my favourites too, so appetising! I don’t add cardamon though, have to try this enxt time!
This looks like a fantastic soup! I wasn’t familiar with salted vegetables but did a quick search to learn about them. I love learning new things about food!
I think salted vegetables is more of an Asian ingredient, though I think they are quite readily available at Asian groceries stores in the US. I’m always learning about western ingredients from your blog ;)
There is nothing like a hearty soup that is also good for you. Your soup looks amazing and I am sure it taste amazing too.
Great recipe and i love the addition of cardamon. I would love this!
No leftovers for me? :)
This is my true comfort food. Since young, I have leaned towards food that are more salty. And when I climbing up the stairs to go home after school and I smell my mum’s å’¸èœé¸æ±¤, it just makes my day! (we stay on the 2nd storey!) I love å’¸èœé¸æ±¤!
me too, I like salty … sour, spicy stuff. Wow the aroma of your childhood å’¸èœé¸æ±¤ must be really potent for it to travel so far! :up:
Super lovely soup! Love the salty sour taste of it…
I learn something new everyday! I’ve never heard of this salted vegetable soup but it does sound so full of flavour! The addition of the duck would make it a perfect meal!
Oh my goodness… this is one of my favourite childhood soup…. and my late dad used to cook this soup for me at least once everyday mth or two. But till nw, i still don’t have the confident and courage to try making this soup(didn’t get a chance to learn his secret recipe)….. Em… yours really look great!!
Since you remember the taste, I’m sure you can experiment till you get the taste of how your late father used to make it :-)
Oooh .. I love this soup. Give me a bowl of rice with it and you’ll see me grinning from ear to ear :P
My late grandma used to made this soup for us but she never put any cardamon to it. This is something new to me. We also like to add tofu to the soup.
tofu cubes is a nice touch to the soup. I shall add them next time I make the soup :-)
I absolutely love this soup!! So good to be back visiting your blog. My whole family loves this soup too. We didn’t use cardamoms so this is interesting and new to me. I’m sure it enhances the taste and aroma. Thanks for sharing.
It’s good to see you back in action! Yes I think the cardamons are a nice touch to add if you have it in your pantry already.
whey!! this used to be my favourite soup, apart from black chicken herbal soup and my mum’s sweet chestnut and fig soup when i was a kid. i loved going out to soup restaurants for this and finding a whole duck drumstick in it :) oh sweet times. thanks for putting up this recipe and making me feel so happy reminiscing those good times. x
oh same here, I love to dig out the duck drumstick too when I’m young. yes this soup reminds a lot of us about our childhood :-)
p/s. i never knew that cardamom went in that soup!
Sounds a special soup.
Oh Wiffy! You sure have my mouth watering over your salted vegetable soup…you just reminded me that I have not had this for a while :-(
Great pictures as always :-)
Love this soup a lot!! It has been a while since I last had it… it’s great that you remind me this recipe :up:
I’ve never tried duck before, but your photos makes it appear mouthwatering. :up: It sounds like a great way to have it with the salted vegetables, in a soup. (hey, we all have our guilty pleasures, right? :P )
And I swear you must have the largest assortment of dishes, each with a different design. Every photo shoot has something new! *envy* (Which is why I could never do food photography, ’cause my mom has 1 set of dishware that is white and boring….no punchi napkins or anything! :cry: hehe)
oh dear, you noticed my addiction to cutlery and props shopping hehe :| Actually, I love white cutlery the most… they are classic and elegant and I use them all the time at home :D
My mom used to cook this when I was young, I love the sweet and salty taste of this soup. I won’t get a chance to cook this as it’s simply too much for my family now. Will have to wait till the kids are older.
I like this soup!
When we do it at home, we also add in some pork ribs to the soup. It makes it tastier. Maybe it’s because we are used to that flavour :-)
That’s a really good idea – think I’ll add some pork ribs to my duck soup next time. Thanks for sharing the tip :-)
This looks and sounds fabulous for a cold winter day here in Hamburg!
*Screaming* You know what, you just tortured me with this soup before bedtime! This is a fave of mine!! Interestingly, I first had it years ago at a Nyonya food restaurant in Melaka … I never knew it’s 100% Chinese!?
Pei-Lin
not sure if it’s 100% Chinese, but I’m sure it’s 100% Asian. I think all ethnic groups have their own twist and version :) hehe sorry for the torture lol, I always crave for food before bedtime too :D
This is the soup that my family always makes for festive seasons and prayers. Love the rooster bowls, I got some too, my sister brought them from Penang to me. Going to use them in my cookbook hehe.
your cookbook is going to be awesome, I’m really looking forward to it :)
My favourite but I have no chance to drink this coz hubby doesn’t like duck!
this soup is one of my favourite soup.I remember my mom must cook this soup for prayer..I think it’s Hokkian lang soup,right?
The best version I’ve tasted uses roasted duck. It gives the soup a wonderful aroma.
It’s my first time hearing about using cardamons in this soup. Thanks for the tip. maybe I’ll try this next time. :)
Hi. Where u bought the chicken picture bowls from ? thanks
I bought them from a shop on the 3rd level of people’s park complex. It’s in the center (open area) selling quite a bit of crockery and cutlery.
There are many places in Singapore that sells these chicken bowls actually. Look for those traditional shops (usually they also sell household items). I’ve seen them also at china town, beach road area, bedok, ang mo kio…
Hi Wiffy,
wow cool.. Thanks for your reply. I will go there and check it out this weekends.
u must have a lot of crockery stored at home..
have fun shopping. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Oh yes, I have too much crockery at home >_<
Hi Wiffy, do u know how to make the salted veg which u can usually order with bak kut teh? Btw, I love all your recipes… :)
sorry, I haven’t made that before. hehe
Hi,
I want to say a big THANK YOU!!
My Giam Chye Ar recipe is same as yours minus the Cardamon (I also added sour plums and Tofu and I also didn’t remove the skin and fat cos’ I really like the unhealthy version :-p). I also transferred the soup to a slow cooker after boiling for 2 hours.
The white pepper seeds actually subdue the strong duck odour but I have never thought of Cardamon!!
I actually wanted to try out another curry dish, Hainanese curry. I just can’t get the taste I wanted and I believe Cardamon is one of the key ingredients that give Hainanese curry the unique taste.
Thank you!!
Hi,
I tried this recipe for the first time today. I’m amazed with the result! My hubby loves it. His taste buds have been pampered by his mum’s fantastic culinary skills. It’s an achievement for me. :)
I used 1.5 tsp of peppercorns and my daughter finds it too peppery but it suits my hubby. I think I’d just use 1 tsp in future. :)
Thanks so much to the details in your easy-to-follow recipe.
Thanks for trying out the recipes … so happy to hear that your family likes them :) happy cooking!
Thanks so much for this recipe!
My husband has been buying this soup from a soup stall near our place a few times a week. Clearly a favourite of his. So I’m gonna surprise him tonight by making this! From the list of ingredients, I can almost tell it is gonna be better than the stall near us!
Thanks again!
This is the easiest dish to make just throw everything in but I use a pressure cooker instead. Nice clear soup you made, sometime I skid the first step. Mostly the same ingredient as yours minus the cardamon and peppercorn. However to make it tastier, I add Kross Chicken cube, smooth tofu and canned button mushroom.
Tried this recipe over the weekend and I must say it is like the ones I have outside!
Is such a comfort soup, especially when one has a mild flu.
Thanks for sharing this great recipe :D
great to hear, thank you!
can u pls email me tis salted vege duck soup recipe?thanks..