Fall-off-the-bone duck legs and a flavorful dark broth are featured in the Vietnamese dish Mi Vit Tiem, or duck noodle soup. In this post, you'll discover an easy way to prepare this tricky dish at home.
In a mixing bowl, place duck legs and massage it with broken ginger, rice wine and crushed ginger. This can help remove any gamy smells. Rinse thoroughly and dry. Then, marinate the duck legs with five-spice spice powder as well as dark soy sauce, crushed shallots, and garlic for 20-30 minutes.
Set the oven's broiler on high. Scrape off any aromas in the marinade of the duck legs and place the skin of the duck legs face down on a rack with a wire over an oven tray lined with baking paper. Bake until the skin is blistered and golden , with some spots of darkening (about 10-15 minutes).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For a stronger broth, you can add some duck bones or necks and simmer with the duck legs. Another option is to use some chicken bones, or substitute half of the water with chicken stock.
If you don’t want to add rock sugar, swap 1/2-1 cup of water with fresh coconut juice. It will add natural sweetness to the broth.
The nutrition fact doesn’t include the nutrition values of the noodles.
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.