Duck and noodle soup

Name: Duck and noodle soup
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 1 small cinnamon stick; 2 whole star anise; 60 ml/2½ fl oz Thai fish sauce (nam pla); 2 tablespoons Demerara or palm sugar; 2 tablespoons Demerara or palm sugar; 2.5 cm/1 inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped; 5 fresh coriander roots, crushed; 10 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed; 2.5 litres/4 pints water; 1 whole duck, washed; 2 tablespoons garlic-flavoured oil (see step 3, page 118); 450 g/1 lb beansprouts, blanched for 2 minutes; 1 kg/2¼ lb fresh, wide rice noodles; 2 tablespoons garlic-flavoured oil (see step 3, page 118); 1 teaspoon black peppercorns; 1 dessertspoon salt; 60 ml/2½ fl oz Thai fish sauce (nam pla); 60 ml/2½ fl oz dark soy sauce; 3 fresh green chillies, finely sliced cider vinegar; freshly ground white pepper, to taste; 3 fresh green chillies, finely sliced cider vinegar; 1 large, fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced; fresh coriander leaves; ½ head lettuce leaves, roughly torn; 3 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Keith Floyd's Thai Food

By Keith Floyd

Published 2006

About

This soup requires a very specific, home-made stock.

Ingredients

For the stock

2 whole star anise
1 small cinnamon stick
1 whole duck, washed

Asia
Europe
Italy
Thailand
France
Starter
Stock
Soup

Method

First make the stock. Dry-fry the star anise and cinnamon stick in a frying pan for 30–40 seconds until they release their fragrance.
Place them in a large pan or stockpot with all the other stock ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and simmer very gently until the duck is tender, but not falling apart – about 1½ hours.