Pho, the national soup of Vietnam, is a rich, very aromatic, full of flavour, Asian comfort food with all the trimmings. Here we make it with chicken.
The Asian answer to European stews is the Vietnamese pho (pronounced roughly like the vague “fe”), which is also the country’s favourite street food. The places where it is cooked and served are akin to pizzerias in the rest of the planet – every neighborhood has its own. The main ingredient is Vietnamese noodles, that is, rice cakes, thin, flat and long like fettuccine, and meat or poultry (chicken, duck or meat).
Christopher Peskias
45′ preparation | 35′ baking | 2 hours waiting time | Total: 3 hours and 20′
Materials
Servings: 6
- 1 large chicken, weighing about 2.500 g.
- 3 chicken breast fillets
- 2 dry onions, peeled, cut in half
- 20 g fresh ginger, with the peel
- 1 medium herring, cleaned
- 5 pcs. star anise, roasted
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds, roasted
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 50 g sugar
- 45 ml fish sauce (fish sauce)
- a few drops of lime or lemon juice
- 200 g rice cakes, soaked for 20 minutes in a bowl of lukewarm water, drained
For serving
- the leaves of 1 bunch of coriander + 1 bunch of mint + 1 bunch of basil
- 150 ml sriracha sauce (at Asian food stores)
- 150 ml hoisin sauce (in Asian food shops)
- 6 spring onions (the green part in thin sticks, the white part in thin slices)
- 2 limes, cut into 8 pieces
- 3 fresh chilli peppers, finely chopped
- 400 g stamnagathi (optional), scalded for 5-6 minutes in plenty of salted boiling water and drained
Procedure
- To make the Vietnamese chicken pho, start by putting the onions and raw ginger in a baking pan and cook on a high, preheated grill for 10 minutes, until they are tender. Rinse the ginger to remove any burnt spots and peel the ginger. Set ginger and onions aside.
- In a large pot, add the chicken and cover it with 1-2 cm of water.Heat over high heat until the water comes to a boil, lower the heat and skim for about 10 minutes.
- Add the cooked ingredients (onions and ginger), the reva and the roasted spices and simmer for about 1 hour, skimming as needed.
- Meanwhile, place the chicken breast fillets on a lightly greased baking tray and cook them on a preheated grill over high heat for 10-12 minutes on each side, until browned on the outside and cooked through to the inside, without drying out (cut one and check for pink spots, otherwise cook for a few more minutes). Transfer them to a large platter and cut them into medium slices.
- Once the whole chicken is cooked, carefully remove it from the pot and transfer it to a cutting board. Thaw it by cutting the meat into large pieces and transfer them to the platter with the cooked breasts.
- Drain the broth, pour it back into the (cleaned) pot and add the salt, sugar and fish sauce. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add a few drops of lime juice, add the drained rice pudding and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Serving
- In separate small bowls, add the herb leaves, the two sauces (hoisin and sriracha), the white and green parts of the spring onions, the chopped limes and the peppers.
- In deep plates, divide a few rice cakes, some stamnagathi, 1-2 slices of roasted breast and a few pieces of boiled chicken stock. Add enough broth to each plate and serve. Serve with the ingredients in the bowls.
The recipe was first published in Gastronomos magazine, issue 202.
