Sibu Food : Steamed Duck with Glutinous Rice Filling

 

My Ngie mah loved Soon Mi Ark (Glutinous Rice Duck) or duck with glutinous rice filling.

My aunts in their Nang Chong house used to rear a lot of ducks. Every now and then we would get a gift of a duck from them and my ngie mah (maternal grandmother) would bring it to Sibu when she visited us.

We Foochows in the past would bring a gift when staying over night in a relative's house. This special gift is called Meen Neng (face front). In Bahasa it is called Buah Tangan.

My grandmother would always bring something, a duck, or a chicken, or may be some fruits and vegetables from the farm. Actually, she did not have to bother to bring us something. But as town dwellers, gifts of food were really appreciated. But her visit was very treasured for we appreciated her company more than anything else. Mum was always over the moon when she visited for they had so much to talk to each other about.

If it was a duck she brought, mum would cook the whole duck with  glutinous rice filling. The mother and daughter would spend time in the kitchen, cleaning the duck, plucking the feathers, and tweezing out the small feathers to get a really clean skin.

And soon the duck with its precious filling would be steaming away, giving the whole kitchen a wonderful warm aroma and fragrance of love.

Eating the duck with grandma was such a happy occasion. My mother would give her the thigh and my father would get the other one. 

Do you know that my mother loved the butt most? I would normally ask for the back bone part. The Foochows call the back bone, piang ler.