Pho Ga (Chicken Pho, or Vietnamese noodle soup)

I will never forgive myself for waiting this long to make pho.  For TOO LONG I've been too intimidated to make it, because of how complicated the process is, and how long it takes.  While that may be true for beef pho (which is truly a very involved process involving many hours and different cuts of bones and meat in order to make a rich stock), chicken pho can be prepared in about 3 hours.  And yes, that is a relatively "short" process.  The good news is that most of the time is spent passively waiting in agonizing suspense while yummy smells fill your house with the promise of hot soupy saltiness.  Or, you could alternatively spend 3 hours hovering over a simmering stockpot.  Not that that's what I do or anything...

Pho ga with lime wedge, thai basil, jalapeno, cilantro, sliced onions, and scallions

Key things to this recipe

-you need a ginormous stockpot.  The one we used was about 3 gallons. 

-you need a free range chicken.  Allegedly.  I've only made this recipe once so I can't truly say I've done taste comparisons, but every recipe and native Vietnamese cook swears by this step.  Unfortunately, a free range bird will be about 2-3 times more expensive, but since this pot will make at LEAST 10 bowls of pho, it breaks down to less than $1 per bowl

-you need spices that you might not already have in your pantry (clockwise from top left, coriander & fennel, cinnamon stick, cardamom pod (?), star anise, cloves)

-you need garnishes.  Maybe not all of them, but at the bare minimum, you'll need sliced onions, lime, cilantro, +/- thai basil and scallions.  If you like it spicy, sriracha or sliced jalapenos is indispensable, and if you like some sweetness, you should have some hoison on hand, also :)

-like pad thai, you need to soak the noodles for at least 30 minutes or so in cold water before serving.  Otherwise you will be hungry and have no one to blame but yourself for not following directions.

Recipe (and pics to drool over!) after the jump.

Pho Ga

Ingredients:

for the broth

:: 2 onions, skin on, rinsed

:: 4 inch chunk of ginger, skin on, rinsed

:: 4-5 pound whole chicken, innards removed (but not thrown away!) , everything rinsed

:: 1 inch chunk rock sugar.  If you don't want to buy it (it's only about $1.50 for a whole bag and is also great with tea, coffee, etc) let me know and I'll lend you some :)

:: pho spice sack, found in your local asian grocer 

-OR-

2 tbsp coriander seeds, 4 cloves, 4 star anise, 1-2 sticks cinnamon, 1 tbsp fennel, cardamom pod

:: pho noodles.  I think they're called "banh pho",

for garnish

:: 1 very thinly sliced onion, soaked in cool water

:: 1 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped

:: 1 lime, cut into wedges

:: 1 bunch thai basil

:: 1 jalapeno, sliced thinly

:: bean sprouts

Parboil the chicken.  Bring a pot of water just large enough to fit the chicken in to a rolling boil.  Pop the chicken in for 2 minutes.  I also add in the gizzard/heart/liver to the stock and remove it before serving.  This is an important step and removes a lot of the scum and yucky stuff from the chicken.

Dump the water, rinse the chicken off and replace it into the pot.  Add about 6 quarts (1.5 gallons) of water to the pot and return the chicken.  Turn heat to high, and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, char the onions and ginger.  You can do this by sitting them over a grill (ideal), or for convenience, over a gas stove or even directly on an electric burner, like I did.  Turn the ginger and onion periodically until evenly charred, about 15 minutes.  I cut off the root of the onion only because it was dusty, but leave the skin and charred bits on!  Cut the onions in half, leave the ginger intact, and add both to the pot.  Add a tablespoon or so of salt to the stockpot.

Once the water boils, turn heat down to produce a low simmer.  Now walk away.  Seriously, just do it.

After the hour is up, remove the chicken from the broth and set it aside to cool for at least 15 or 20 minutes.  You can leave the stock simmering while you do this.  Once cool, remove the skin (I throw this away, but I guess you could eat it?), remove the meat and set it aside in the fridge for later.  I skipped the next step, but you could make the broth even richer by chopping through the bones with a cleaver before returning the bones to the stockpot.  (But don't skip adding the bones!)

Put the spices into a spice sack for easy extraction, stick it into the stockpot.  Add the chunk of rock sugar.  Simmer for at least another 30 minutes.  At this point, I highly recommend you salt liberally. This soup tastes great without the salt, and maybe I have a salt problem, but it tastes SO GOOD with a ton of salt.  There will be a pretty good layer of fat on the surface.  You should skim this off, but it's ok if you leave a little left.  The easiest way to do that is to chill the broth overnight and then it'll just come off as a solid chunk in the morning.  But you'll only be able to do this if you are a master of self-control.

Remove all the solids (onion, ginger, chicken bones, spice sack) before serving.

Boil the pho noodles in the stock until they're soft, about 1-2 minutes.  Serve in a giant bowl with the soup and garnishes.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.  Can't wait until winter so I have an excuse to eat it every day......