Phở gà (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup)

Main DishesChicken

Jul 5

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I love phở in all of its forms. My go-to is always the rare beef, but if I want to make it at home, chicken is the way to go. It’s quick and easy to prepare and the broth comes together in about an hour, with plenty of tender, poached chicken to add to your soup.

Traditionally it is made using a whole chicken, but I like to use chicken drumsticks so that all of the meat remains tender and not dry and there’s lots of bone, cartilidge and skin to flavour the stock.

Once the stock is prepared, it’s less cooking and more assembling for the final dish. The stock also freezes beautifully and great to have on hand on a cold day for an instant pick-me-up.

Phở gà

Servings: 4

Ingredients

For the broth

8-9 chicken drumsticks
1 large onion
3 inch piece of ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise
1 tbs salt
3 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs palm sugar (you can use brown sugar if you can’t find palm sugar)
10 cups of water

For the soup

rice noodles - 1 cup per person, cooked
bean sprouts
thinly sliced onion
holy basil
lime wedges
chilies to taste

Instructions

Add the drumsticks to a large pot and cover with cold water.
Bring to the boil, then discard the water and rinse the drumsticks.
Return the drumsticks to the pot and add 10 cups of cold water.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Chop the onion and ginger into slices - no need to peel either.
Place the onion and ginger into a dry frying pan or griddle, and toast until charred.
Add the onions and ginger to the chicken, along with the rest of the broth ingredients.
Place the lid on and cook on low for one hour.
Remove the drumsticks and shred the chicken and set aside.
Strain the broth and discard the spices, onion and ginger.
When ready to serve, pour the hot broth over cooked rice noodles.
Add chicken, beansprouts, thinly sliced onion, chili, basil and lime to your taste.
Serve immediately.