Comforting Goodness: Pho Ga (Chicken Noodle Soup)

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Pho Ga
Recipe

Happy new year, everyone! It’s a brand new year, and how about starting with some healthy comfort food? Because I grew up on Vietnamese noodles soups, they have become my go to comfort food, and I have since converted my husband to share this same mentality. Of course, many cultures share the same comfort food – CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP, so I’m going to share my mom’s recipe for Vietnamese style noodle soup. It’s warm. It’s tasty. It’s belly warming good. Enjoy! (Please, note that all measurements are approximate. Mom said to use your sense of taste for the everything!)

Finished Product

    Ingredients:

Pork Loin Soup Bones Whole Chicken Trimming the fat

1 Whole Chicken (preferably organic/free-range)
5 lbs of pork soup bones (trimmed of fat)
Banh Pho Tuoi (Pho noodles)

    Seasoning:

2 TB fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt + more for rubbing the chicken down
3 tsp chicken bouillon

    Toppings:

Chopped green onion
Chopped cilantro
Deep fried onions (recipe to come from Grandaunt)
Drizzle of sesame oil

    Preparing the soup stock:

Parboil BonesParboil 2

1. Parboil the pork bones. Cook from cold water and bring to boil. Rapid boil for about 5 minutes. Rinse clean.
2. Add bones to fresh water in stock pot and simmer bones for a minimum 4 hrs

    Preparing the chicken:

Rinse chicken Rinse chicken 2 Drip Dry chicken Rub chicken with salt

1. Wash and dry chicken
2. Rub the insides and outside of the chicken with salt
3. Bring soup stock to boil
4. Place chicken in broth and bring back to boil
5. Turn heat off and set for 45 minutes (can be more or less depending on size of chicken)
6. Remove chicken from stock and cool down completely in ice bath to allow for chicken meat texture to be more smooth.
In goes the chicken It's done! Ice bath

7. Drip dry
8. Shred chicken meat into strips
Shredded chicken Nuoc Mam - Fish Sauce Brown Sugar

9. Bring soup stock back to boil and season to taste

    Assembling the bowl (your mis en place *snicker):

Cilantro and Green Onion Cooking the Banh Pho Tuoi Pre-soup

- Cooked noodles, shredded chicken, fried onions, chopped cilantro, green onion, drizzle of sesame oil
- Ladle hot soup stock and viola!
Finished Product

Tips/Suggestions:
- If you boiled too rapidly and the soup is cloudy, an onion thrown in during the simmer will fix it and decrease the cloudiness.
- When you are cleaning the chicken, don’t be afraid to literally squeeze the snot out of the chicken.
- Allow chicken to come close to room temp before placing into soup stock to allow for even cooking

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