Autumn weather is in full force and we’ve brushed the cobwebs off the hot water bottles and have been snuggling up to them in bed. The heater hasn’t made it’s debut yet, but in an old villa, it won’t be long.

We had Peking Duck on Sunday at Canton Cafe and I took the duck carcass home. I remember when we ate Peking Duck in Beijing, the duck carcass was taken home to make soup. So I figured I would boil up the bones and make a rich duck stock to form a soup base.

Cabbage soup with meatballs and duck stock

Soup Ingredients
1.5 cups soup mix (pearl barley, yellow split peas, green split peas, red lentils)
Quarter of a large cabbage
1 tablespoon of oil
5 potatoes

Duck stock
1 duck carcass (meat removed for another meal)

Meatball Ingredients
500g beef mince
1 tablespoon ground chilli seasoning*
Salt
Half an onion, finely chopped
Half a cup of breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons Worcester sauce

Preparation

1. In a large pot, heat the oil and the soup mix and toast for a few minutes.
2. Add about 1 litre of water, bring to boil and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes.
3. The soup mix will absorb a lot of water, so just make sure it doesn’t get too low or it may burn.
4. In a separate pot, boil the duck carcass for 30 minutes. Strain out the duck bones and add the stock to the soup.
5. Chop cabbage into short strips.
6. Peel and dice potatoes.
7. Add cabbage and potatoes to the soup. Top up with water so that all the potatoes and cabbage are covered.
8. Simmer for 30 minutes.
9. Taste. Season.
10. In the meantime, make meatballs by mixing all ingredients in a big bowl. Form ping pong sized meatballs and drop into the soup.
11. Cook for a further 15 minutes until meatballs are cooked through.

*I used Gregg’s Ground Chilli Seasoning. It contains paprika, cayenne, cumin, salt, garlic, cloves and marjoram.