A healthy bowl of noodles in an aromatic broth, topped with slices of tender duck.
Healthy Duck Noodle Soup
Ped Toon is a special occasion dish in Thailand. You’ll often see it at festivals, with rows of duck soup sellers surrounded by locals perched on plastic chairs, happily slurping their soup. Some sellers add cola to the broth for a little fizz and top it with shredded duck.
Ingredients
- 250g duck breast, skinless
- 120g dried yellow egg noodles, thin or thick, but you can use wheat noodles if you prefer
- small handful of fresh bean sprouts, or small handful of finely sliced iceberg lettuce
- For the broth:
- 2 star anise, or a pinch of ground aniseed
- ½ tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- 1 tsp ginger paste, or 2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger
- 1 tsp garlic paste, or 2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp finely ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- ½ tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp honey or agave syrup
- 900ml boiling water
- For the toppings:
- small handful of fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
- 1 spring onion (scallion), finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fried crispy garlic or onions (optional)
Directions
- Put all the broth ingredients into a medium-sized saucepan over a medium–high heat and add the duck breast.
- Cover with a lid and bring to the boil, then simmer over a medium heat for 20 minutes. Then remove the cooked duck and strain the broth through a fine sieve into a separate saucepan. Set the strained broth and the cooked duck aside.
- Half-fill a small saucepan with boiling water and place over a medium heat. Add the noodles and boil for 2–3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the noodle.
- To assemble the dish, divide the noodles between two large bowls and top with the bean sprouts or lettuce. Slice the duck and place in the bowls. Reheat the broth, bringing it back to the boil, then pour it all over the noodles. Finally, scatter over the toppings and get stuck in immediately.