Mien mang ngan – Duck and dried bamboo shoots with mung bean threads noodles

It’s the winter time and so I’m craving for something hot and soupy. Could you imagine the picture of my family sitting in the dining table and waiting for dinner? Then Mom would serve each of us with a very hot bow of Mien mang ngan - Duck and dried bamboo shoots with mung bean threads noodles. This would make our stomach warm for the whole winter, as my Dad joked.

Mien mang ngan is very popular during the winter time, especially when Tet is coming. Mien, or you may know as mung bean threads noodles (or glass noodles) is my favorite all the time. As you can see in the above picture, duck plays a main part of this dish, then we also have moc nhi (black dried fungus), mang kho (dried bamboo shoots) and of course, green onion and cilantro. To me, the steps that take the most time of the cooking process of this dish are to deal with mang kho (dried bamboo shoots). It takes me 4-5 days to complete the preparation for mang kho. So please plan ahead if you want to try to make this dish. My Mom usually just cooks this dish for Tet when she has a lot of time ^^ and also because the smell of Mang kho represent for the smell of Tet …

For me, this is the first time I’ve ever bought a duck in Singapore. I was so excited to get to the supermarket, but then I looked at those huge ducks and felt a little bit panic. However, I was so determined that I kept on going and bought one home. My husband saw me “taking care” of the “baby” duck and laughed: “I thought you bought a small pig home, not a duck lol” … Alright, it’s a little “chubby” duck, but I promise this duck is worthy if you try this dish after all ;)

1. Ingredients: serves 4 -6 people

• Half of a big duck or 1 small duck
• 300 grams Dried bamboo shoots (Măng khô) (You can use 1 package of fresh bamboo shoots and skip all the steps to deal with dried bamboo shoots. It would save you tons of time, but it’s a good try to use dried bamboo shoots. I prefer to use the dried one)
• 50 grams dried black fungus (Mộc nhĩ)
• For the soup:
  • About 4 liters water
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 Tablespoon minced shallot
  • 2 Tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon chicken broth powder
  • Pinch of pepper
• 1 Tablespoon chopped ginger
• ½ cup of chopped green onion
• ¼ cup of chopped cilantro
• 1 package of Mien - Mung bean threads noodles (glass noodles) (about 300 - 400 grams)

2. Instructions:

• For the dried bamboo shoots, Mien and dried fungus:
  • Soak the dried bamboo shoots in cold water in 4 - 5 days. Change the water each day. You’ll see that the dried bamboo shoots will expand and their color will become golden brown. Tip: if you cook the rice, you can use the water that you use to wash the rice to soak the dried bamboo shoots. It will make the process faster.
  • After that, put all the dried bamboo shoots in a big pot. Cover with water and bring it to boil. Simmer for about 7 - 10 minutes. Then pour the water out, and cover the bamboo shoots with new water and bring it to boil again for another 7-10 minutes. Continue the process for 4 -5 times or until the dried bamboo shoots become tender and the water become clear.
  • Soak Mien and dried fungus in cold water for at least 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water and chop dried fungus thinly. If Mien is too long, cut them into half.
• For the duck:
  • Clean the duck by rubbing with salt and then rinse with cold water. Put duck in a big pot, cover with cold water, add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 Tablespoon chopped ginger. Bring it to boil and simmer for about 20 minutes or until you can put the skewer or chopstick through the duck and there’s no pinky water comes out.
  • Take the duck out and cool it. Then take a knife to cut the meat and slide it to bite size. Keep duck bones to simmer for the broth later.

• For the broth:
  • The broth that we’ve just made could include a lot of fat. So take a big spoon or ladder and scoop out 3-4 Tablespoon fat to a big sauce pan. Turn the heat on to Med - hi and put the minced shallot in. Stir-fry until shallot golden brown and smell amazingly. Add dried bamboo shoots and dried fungus in. Add 2 Tablespoons of fish sauce, 1 Tablespoon of chicken broth powder and pinch of pepper. Simmer them for about 5 minutes. Add more fatty broth if needed.
  • Add the rest of duck broth and duck bones. Bring to boil and taste again. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

• How to serve:
  • Bring the soup to boil. Add just enough amount of Mien for one bowl in the strainer and soak in the hot soup for about 2-3 minutes or until Mien become tender (Note: Please, don’t overcook Mien or it would become mushy).
  • Put cooked Mien into a bowl, add duck meat, green onion, and cilantro and pour in hot soup with dried bamboo shoots and fungus.

Please serve and enjoy this dish right away after you pour in the soup. Mien is easy to be overcooked and will expand and become mushy if you let the dish sits there for only 5 minutes. Eating Mien right away is a good way to enjoy mien ;)

Enjoy and stay warm everyone!