Chinese Chicken Recipes for Busy People

I got some leftover roast duck in the fridge. What to do about it?  I remember I was shocked when my Chinese college buddy told me that she had leftovers in her fridge that were like 3 or 4 days old.  I grew up with fresh food everyday.  My mom would go to the market and get fresh food everyday.  I do mean every day!  Whatever leftover from dinner would become her next day breakfast.  We rarely ate any leftovers for dinner.  I was so lucky and I didn’t even realize it back then.  I learned to cook for myself when I was in college.  Being a poor and busy student, I could only afford to cook once or twice a week.  I ended up making a big batch of food, and I ate that for a week or so.  Then I started to realize it was not that strange to have leftover food for days.  I started to appreciate that.  Some of the food actually tasted better the next day.  The leftover roast duck I had was 3 days old.  But it was still yummy and edible. I decided to debone the meat and add some pickled vegetables to make it into a sautéed mei fun dish.  My friend mentioned that there is a Taiwanese food truck in NYC.  It was so cool.  I checked out their website. They put Chinese pickled vegetables as a side dish for the meal.  That reminded me that I could turn my leftover into a nice mei fun dish if I added some Chinese pickled veggie.  I made this meal from start to end in about 20 mins.  It was yummy and convenient.  All my leftover roast duck was gone.  I really wish I had more leftover to make the dish again.  LOL.

Debone and cut roast duck into pieces

Add roast duck and pickled vegetable in the pan

 

Add mei fun to the pan

Sauteed mei fun with roast duck and pickled vegetable

Ingredients (Serve one big hungry serving):

• Mei Fun, 4 oz (about 2 dried ones)
• Roast Duck, about a cup (I didn’t really measure.  Whatever leftover I had, I used it all)
• Pickled vegetable, 3 Tbsp
• Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp
• Garlic, 1 clove
• Sugar, 1 tsp
• Cornstarch, 1 tsp
• Water, 6 Tbsp
• Salt, a dash
• Pepper, a dash

 

Steps:

1. Boil a big pot of water.  When the water boils, put dried mei fun in the pot.  Use a fork or a pair of chopsticks to separate the noodles when it softens.  Cool it for 2 mins after it is separated.  Turn off the heat.   Put noodles in a colander.  Rinse off excess starch under the tap.  Put the noodles aside.  Let it drain.
2. Chop garlic into small pieces.  Put it aside.
3. Debone and cut the leftover roast duck into small pieces.  Put it aside.
4. In a frying pan (non-stick would be better), spray some oil.  Add garlic and roast duck meat in it.  Stir fry for a minute.  Add Chinese cooking wine.
5. Add pickled vegetable to the pan and mix it well.
6. Add mei fun to the pot. Mix it well.
7. In a small bowl, add cornstarch, sugar, pepper, and water.  Mix it well.
8. Add sauce to the pan. Mix it well with the noodles.  Let it cook for a minute or so. Taste it.  NOTE that I have not put any salt in this dish because the Chinese pickled vegetable is kind of salty.  You can add some salt if needed.  Turn off the heat. Serve hot.