This dish of Filipino noodles with duck, prawns, chillies, peanuts and egg—among other delights—is one of those great dishes to whip up in no time at all, the ultimate week night meal when you have an appetite, but no energy for cooking.
Frederik rather than Nina
This is an authentic recipe, not necessarily authentic in terms of being true Filipino cooking, but authentic in how I learned it.
Way back in the mists of time, I had this on-again-off-again thing with a naval doctor stationed at the US military hospital outside of Manila at Subic Bay. I opted to stop over in Manila without any specific rationale. Yes, I wanted to see the national film theatre that had been knocked up in time for the first Manila International Film Festival. It's reputed to be haunted because Imelda Marcos apparently wouldn't allow builders to delay completion to recover the bodies of workers who died in an accident during its constuction. They lie buried in the foundations, so the story goes. And, that was the reason I opted for Manila—rather than Singapore or Bali. So, no, probably not how my dad imagined me using my air miles on those trips to Australia; happy landings etc.
A few years later when Frederik Jan Gustav Floris, Baron van Pallandt—aka Frederik of Nina & Frederik—was shot dead and the locals contested the "official" version, believing it was a disgruntled rent boy who had done him in, I knew there had been some subconscious purpose behind me choosing Manila. In hindsight that purpose was that handsome devil.
Jack (obviously) was fighting Boston Irish. He used to say that if they ever had rednecks in Southie, he'd be a founding member of the gang. When I met him, he'd already been stationed in the Philippines for some time. He loved the place and he loved the food. And he was an exceptionally good cook. This is one of those dishes he'd whip up when I visited.
This one is courtesy of "Dr. Longjohn" (with apologies to Bette Midler). He's retired now and lives, back in Boston with his partner Raul, a noted human rights activist. I'm godfather to his son Coinneach, named for me, also now a physician—yeah, you can do that if you need a Catholic church that welcomes gays—and their daughter Inez works for an NGO helping undocumented workers.
I'm telling you all of this because I have two memories of this dish: one, with Jack and Raul in the garden in Beacon Hill with kids whizzing around; the other, in Subic Bay, long before Raul stole Jack's heart, cooked by a Bostonian of such sexiness even Henry James could never have imagined as a huge moon sank slowly towards a quiet sea. It works either way.
When I first learned to cook this dish, I used to spend a lot of time trying to find "pancit" Filipino noodles back in London. I later learned it's pretty much a generic term meaning "noodles" So, I'm using egg noodles here, but you can use other types of noodles if you prefer, for example, rice noodles.
3 top tips to get this recipe right: |
|
|
|
The version I'm making here is fairly spicy, mainly down to using a fairly hot variety of red chillies and not deseeding them—do I ever? But, you can also opt to use less fiery chillies, both in the dish or in the marinade/sauce.
One of the things I love about this dish is that you can eat it hot for dinner, but the leftovers, stored in the fridge, work fantastically as a salad the next day. You don't even need to switch up the dressing. The lime, crushed peanuts and salsa verde of cucumber, spring onions and coriander work perfectly the next day.
This recipe serves 2 to 3 diners. You can easily scale it up for larger groups.
Shopping list
for Filipino noodles with duck
A skinless duck breast (approx.180g); sliced
2 eggs, hardboiled, cooled and peeled and cut into segments
2 fresh limes
Approx. 125g shelled prawns (or small shrimp); fresh or defrosted
1 large red bell pepper, cut vertically into slices
2 tspns garlic and ginger paste
2 large hot red chillies, sliced
Approx.100g fresh sugar snap peas (or mange tout)
3 tspns peanut oil
2 tbspns ketjap manis
Approx. 75g peanuts; toasted or dry roasted
Approx. 600g fresh egg noodles (or dried—cooked, drained and cooled)
Salt and black pepper to taste
for the marinade/sauce
100g peanuts, toasted or dry roasted
2 hot bird's eye chillies
2 tspns garlic & ginger paste
2 tbspns yellow bean sauce
2 tbspns light soy sauce
1 tbspn rice vinegar
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbspns sesame oil
1 star anise
Salt and black pepper
for the salsa verde and garnishes
6 shallots, sliced
⅓ fresh cucumber, washed
Approx. 75g peanuts; toasted or dry roasted
6 spring onions, washed and peeled
A generous clutch of fresh flat leaf parsley (or coriander)
Cooking Method
the marinade/sauce
Make this first. You can actually do it up to 4 days ahead and store in the fridge. If you need to toast your peanuts, do this first, in a dry, non-stick pan and then cool
Chop all of the peanuts you will need for this recipe using a mini-chopper or food processor. Remove approx. 75g and place to one side. To the remainder of the peanuts, add the star anise and chop
When the peanuts and star anise are chopped, add the chillies and all of the "wet" ingredients, a little at a time, and chop into a fairly smooth marinade
Place the duck slices in a container and ladle over about half of the marinade, gently folding in. Ideally you should do this at least 4 hours before cooking, but even 30mins is enough to make a difference.
for the Filipino noodles with duck
Heat approx. 1 tbspn of the peanut oil on a high heat in a wok. Add the sliced shallots while the oil is still warming. Cook the shallots, stirring regularly, until crispy—don't be worried if they blacken slightly. Decant and place to one side.
Without cleaning the wok, stir fry the marinaded duck strips, adding the juice of half a lime halfway through and adding the squeezed lime to the wok. Stir fry until almost cooked. Remove from the wok and place to one side
Without cleaning the wok, add more of the peanut oil, adding the garlic & ginger paste as it heats. When it begins sizzles, add the sliced onions and chillies, stirring
When the onions begin to soften, add the sliced bell pepper and stir in. Add a little rice vinegar and lime juice, and cook in.
After a few minutes, when the bell pepper softens, add the sugar snap peas and baby plum tomatoes, stirring in. As the juice of the tomatoes begins to sizzle, add about half of the remaining sauce/marinade and the remainder of the lime, adding the squashed lime to the wok, and stir in
While this is cooking, prepare you sambal—see below
Add the noodles and the remaining sauce to the wok and stir in. Then add the prawns. NB: if using raw prawns, add these before adding the noodles
When the noodles are hot, add the pre-cooked duck back into the wok. Add the ketjap manis as you stir the duck into the noodles
When optimally cooked, plate and serve, garnishing with the eggs, slices of lime, chopped peanuts and your salsa verde sambal
for the sambal
Place the cucumber and spring onion in a mini-chopper or food processor and chop
Add the pre-cooked shallots and flat leaf parsley and chop
Decant to a condiment dish and dress with a little rice vinegar
Alternatives
This is basically a "surf 'n cluck" dish. I have very rarely cooked it for vegans and vegetarians. But, when I have done, it's been with sliced tofu or tempeh. Most ketjap manis is vegan, so no problem there. And, I added oyster mushrooms, roughly at the same time as the tomatoes. And, obviously, using rice noodles or glass noodles instead of the egg noodles.
As far as carnivores are concerned, I think duck is enough of an animal. Though I've thought about it, I've never actually tried it with strips of beef.
Pairings
I generally enjoy this dish with a good cold beer or, as tonight, with a mineral water with a dab of lime juice, mango juice and pomegranate. That said, I've really enjoyed it with a good Aussie chardonnay in the past. We need Karel's input on this one, as always.
コメント