Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Soup)

Pho Ga

The Sambal Okra nearly killed us, so we needed some chicken soup to save our souls (and stomachs). I am rather fond of Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Soup) and having found all the vegetables (especially the fennel bulb) that I needed at the weekly local market stall, decided to go ahead and make it.

However, I am not fond of boiled chicken and hit upon the idea of making my chicken (baizhanji) the Hainanese Chicken Rice away to start and then using the stock to make the Pho. To give you an idea of how successful it was, I used 2 whole chickens thinking that I'd be able to make oily chicken rice the next day to go with one of them, but no, no chicken meat left. All gobbled up.

Meat from One Chicken

The chicken turned out well : succulent, cooked just right, the skin elastic yet firm. The soy sauce-sesame oil mixture that I brushed over it added a fragrant touch and everybody loved it.

For the Pho Ga :

2 whole Chickens (stuffed generously with ginger and bashed garlic)

Fennel Bulb

2 Carrots

2 Onions (picked with 8 whole cloves)

1 Tbsp Coriander Seeds

1-2 Cinnamon Sticks

1 Tbsp whole Peppercorns (mix of black and white)

2 Star Anises

2-3 cubes of Rock Sugar

1 Tbsp Fish Sauce

Salt to taste

Bean Sprouts

Mint Leaves

Coriander Leaves

Thai Basilic Leaves

Lime Juice

Chilli Padi

Heat up a pan and dry roast the cinnamon, coriander seeds, star anises and peppercorns till fragrant. Put them into a tea filter bag and tie it up with some kitchen string.

I had the smart idea this time around to use my pasta pot to cook the soup, allowing me to have a clean soup easily at the end of the day. Remember that I had the chicken the Hainanese Chicken Rice way. So that means that I brought a pot of water to boil, put in the chicken (just one) breast down, allow the water to boil again, cover the pot, lower the heat and let the chicken simmer for 20-25 minutes. Fished it out (easy when using the pasta pot), immersed it in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes. In the meantime, repeated operation with the other chicken. You'll see that the cold water will become pretty oily.

Pat cooled chicken dry lightly and then remove the breast meat, wings and drumsticks and brush a mixture of light soy sauce and sesame oil over them. Set aside.

When I had the 2 carcasses, I returned them to the stock (if there is froth and oil on the surface of the stock remove with a ladle first) and added the fennel bulb, carrots, studded onions and the spice tea bag. Boil the soup over medium-low heat for a few hours. Half an hour before the end, add in the sugar, fish sauce and salt.

I just lifted the sieve part of the pasta pot (where all the chicken carcasses etc were) and found a clean and pretty clear soup in the pot. Serve the soup with some rice noodles, bean sprouts, Thai basilic, coriander and mint leaves, some of the chicken meat, lime juice, chilli padi and if you wish, fried shallots. Absolutely good for the soul.