Roast duck and preserved vegetable with braised vermicelli (雪菜火鴨絲炆米)

(serves 2)

So it seems that Paul and I are not mentally strong enough to go to Cabramatta without buying duck. I feel that one of us is weaker than the other, but i guess we are both equally guilty of this... Somehow we ended up with a whole duck (that we shared with the family) yesterday, even though we were supposed to just drop in and buy a cake! 

Anyhow, to enjoy the moment and branch out a little from our usual duck-eating journeys, i decided to try making this Cantonese dish that i used to often request when we went out for lunch as a family ~ i guess i liked it because it was a cheap way of getting some duck and i love noodles :) Preserved cabbage/bamboo shoots mix is an acquired taste ~ salty, sour with a bit of crunch. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but once you do it's quite enjoyable!

Prep time: 30 min

Cooking time: 10 min

Ingredients
200g vermicelli (米粉)
1 spanish onion (100-20g)
150g shredded roast duck meat
200g Chinese cabbage (wombok)
150g preserved vegetable and bamboo mix (雪菜)
2 cloves garlic
1cm cube ginger 
2 T coconut oil
2 T soy sauce
1/2 C chicken stock (or water)
1/2 T sesame oil
1/2 salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 small chilli
1 sprig green shallot

Method
1. Soak the dried vermicelli in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain.
NB. If you don't have enough time, you can soak it in boiling water for 5 minutes. This may affect the texture of the noodles at the end (i.e. too soft), but it does save time!

Rehydrating the vermicelli

2. Meanwhile, finely slice the spanish onion, duck and Chinese cabbage.
3. Rinse the preserved vegetable and drain.

Shredded Chinese cabbage, duck and spanish onion (left), washed preserved vegetable and bamboo shoot (right)

4. Finely dice the garlic and ginger.
5. Heat a pan or wok on medium heat, add 1 T oil into the pan. Wait until it's hot, then add the garlic and ginger. Sauté for 10 sec, then add in the onion and continue to sauté for 3 minutes until the onion is soft. 
6. Add in the duck meat, sauté for a few minutes, then add in the cabbage and preserved vegetable and stir-fry for another few minutes until the cabbage is soft. Remove from the pan and set aside.

7. Add in 1 T oil, then add in the noodles, chicken stock, soy sauce and sesame oil. Season with salt and white pepper. Stir-fry for 5 minutes until the noodles are soft and cooked through.
8. Finely slice the shallots and chilli and toss through with the noodles.
9. Add in the duck and vegetable mix into the noodles and toss.

Cook the noodles first, then add in the sauce and duck/veg 

10. Serve warm.