Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup
The flavorful broth of pho ga (chicken pho) is the result of hours of simmering chicken bones with a bunch of spices and aromatics. My recipe is adapted from Viet World Kitchen which creates a beautifully authentic bowl of pho. You’re supposed to roast an onion and ginger over an open flame but I’m clumsy and dropped my burning onion! Roasting them in the oven also helps to bring out their sweetness without the threat of possibly burning down your kitchen. In addition to the other herbs and spices, they add a beautiful aroma to the broth. I haven’t experimented with a vegetarian version yet but I’m sure we can extract as much flavor from all these delicious aromatics.
Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup
Servings 4
Ingredients
Soup Ingredients:
- 1 large yellow onion unpeeled
- 3 inch chubby ginger unpeeled
- 1 kg small chicken (2 lbs)
- 500 g Chicken bones (1 lb)
- 3 litres water (0.8 gallons)
- 4 stalks green onions
- 5 bunches cilantro stems and roots
- 2 bruised lemongrass bottom half only
- 1 star anise
- Fish sauce to taste
- Salt to taste
- 450 g Fresh rice noodles (approx 1 lb)
Garnishing:
- Beansprouts
- Fresh mint leaves
- ½ yellow onion thinly sliced
- Cilantro leaves
- Green onions sliced
- Red chilies sliced (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ (400℉).
- Place the onion and ginger in a small pan and roast them in the oven for 15 to 20 min until they are soft and aromatic. The onion will have juice bubbling out.
- Cool them down under running water. Cut off the ends of the onion and remove the peel. Bruise the ginger and set them both aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and par boil the chicken and the additional bones for 3 minutes to remove the impurities. Remove the chicken, wash the pot and place the chicken parts and bones back into the pot along with the roasted onion and ginger, star anise, green onions, lemongrass, and cilantro stems and roots. Add enough water to cover the chicken parts (approx. 3 liters) and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer the chicken for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove the cut-up chicken and let them cool down a little before removing the meat from the bones. Add the bones back to the broth and simmer for 2 hours, to really bring out the flavor.
- Add salt and fish sauce to the broth to taste. Use a colander to strain the broth and discard the bones and aromatics.
- In a smaller pot, bring water to a boil and parboil the fresh noodles for 30 seconds or so (if using dried noodles, follow the packet instructions). Rinse the noodles under cold water and equally divide them into bowls.
- If you prefer a less “green” tasting beansprouts, parboil them for a minute or so before adding them to the noodles. Top the noodles with chicken meat, sliced onions, mint leaves, cilantro leaves, green onions, and red chili slices. Add the soup and enjoy!