This old school Teochew traditional delicacy is one that will undoubtedly warm your tummy. A right amount of saltiness and sourness is enough to carry this soup to be full of nourishment. This will serve a great accompaniment to rice even as a main dish. Like my late mum once said, it is good to boil Kiam Chye soup with duck once in awhile as the saltiness will cool your body heat.
Kiam Chye Soup (Salted Vegetable)
1. Whole or 1/2 Kiam Chye (salted vegetables), depending on how big is the pot you intend to cook in. As mine is a big pot I used the whole Kiam Chye.
2. 1/2 Skinned Duck. If you’re at the wet market, do ask them to assist you in chopping the duck into medium sized chunks.
3. 2-3 Half ripe tomatoes. This will bring out the sourness to balance with the salty soup and be more appetizing.
Instructions:
1. Cut the Kiam Chye (salted vegetable) side ways as it brings out the flavour better.
2. Soak the Kiam Chye (salted vegetable) for about 15-20 minutes to lessen the saltiness. Don’t over soak it though, it’ll easily become bland and untasty. It is better to be under soaked as a general rule of thumb.
3. Boil a pot of water, place the duck inside it and let it soak for 15 minutes. This brings out the blood from the bones. After that rinse it with cold. This will ensure that when you boil the actual soup, there will be no blood residue and turn dark brown.
4. Now to boil the actual soup, first boil a pot of water. Usually i fill the pot to about half as the ingredients will cause the volume to increase. Once the water in the pot is boiling, put it all the ingredients.
5.
Once the pot seem to be boiling heavily, lower the fire to medium. Let it continue to boil for 2 hrs and it should be done. Finally add a pinch of msg. It tastes better. (Depending if you find the taste suitable before or not!)
Tip: Sometimes it is ok to put a bit of msg to the food. It brings out the flavour even with minimal amounts. I heard this over the Singapore radio once as told by a Chef during an interview.