Saigon Nights' Chicken Pho Recipe: Food at 4

Nga Rastatter from Saigon Nights shares her Chicken Pho recipe. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 tbsp. oil, vegetable or canola (or other plain oil)
• 2 onions, halved (skin on fine)
• 5cm/ 2" piece of ginger, sliced 0.75cm / 1/3" thick (unpeeled)
• PHO SOUP BROTH:
  
  • 2 litres / 2 quarts water
  • 1.5 kg / 3 lb chicken thighs, bone in skin on (Note 1)
  • 1 small bunch coriander/cilantro (Note 2)
  • 5 star anise pods (was short in photo & video!)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 4 cloves
  • 2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 2 tsp coriander seeds
  • 8 tsp fish sauce
  • 6 tsp white sugar
  • 3/4 tsp salt (Cooking/kosher salt, or 1/2 tsp
    table salt)
• NOODLE BOWLS:
  
  • 360g / 13 oz dried rice noodles, thin flat (or
    600g fresh)
  • 2 green onions stems, finely sliced. TOPPINGS - HELP YOURSELF
  • 3 cups bean sprouts (Note 3)
  • 1 small bunch EACH Thai Basil, min, coriander/cilantro (Note 4)
  • 2 limes, cut into 4 wedges
  • Hoisin sauce
  • Sriracha
  • Red chillies, finely sliced (optional)

Instructions: 

• BROTH:
  
  • 1 Char onion & ginger - Heat oil in a 6 litre / 6
    quart pot (Note 5) over high heat. Place ginger and onion facedown, leave undisturbed for 2 minutes until they blacken. Turn and leave for another 2 minutes.
  • Put everything in pot - Add water and remaining Broth ingredients EXCEPT salt. Bring it a simmer, then lower heat so it's simmering VERY gently with the lid on, but open a crack (Note 6).
  • Simmer gently 1.5 hours. Scoop off scum (dirty foam) that rises to surface once or twice during the simmering.
  • Strain & measure - Remove chicken, then strain broth into a clean pot - you should have 1.5 litres / 1.5 quarts. If you have more, simmer to reduce. If less, top it up with water.
  • Salt broth - Add salt, bring broth to a gentle simmer. Broth should be slightly on the salty side - it dilutes when you add the noodles.
  • Keep broth warm until ready to serve
  • Shred chicken meat, discard bones and skin. (Note 6 Leftover Chicken ideas)
  • ASSEMBLING:
    
    • Place Toppings out on the table.?
    • Reheat chicken (can briefly dunk in broth!).?
    • Prepare noodles per packet directions, just prior to serving. Drain very well (excess water dilutes broth).?
    • Place noodle in bowls. Top with chicken, ladle over 375ml / 1.5 cups broth. Sprinkle with green onion.?
    • Pile on Toppings of choice, add a squeeze of lime into the broth. Consume immediately!?

Recipe Notes:

1. Chicken - or a whole chicken. Don't reduce chicken weight, you will lack flavour in broth. If you're short, throw in a wing or drumstick etc to make up the weight.
2. Can't shortcut this with breast or boneless thigh - need to use skin on chicken with bone in so it can withstand the cook time, and also dark meat imparts way more flavour into broth.
3. Coriander/cilantro - small bunch quantity: if you bundled it all up, it should roughly equal 1 1/2 cups. Around 5cm/2" diameter around base, 20cm/8" tall (you can chop most leaves off to use for topping, and use stems plus some leaves for broth)
4. Bean sprouts - tend to be a bit floppy and smelly from non Asian stores. To perk them up, put in container, cover in water, refrigerate 12 hours. Drain, let dry then use per recipe. If you change water daily, beansprouts will keep for a week using this storage method.
5. Herbs - these 3 herbs are a classic combination for pho. If you have 2 of three, it's still going to seem like an authentic eating experience. If I really had to only pick one, I'd choose either coriander or Thai Basil. Thai Basil can be substituted with normal basil (but not if it's the only herb you're using).
6. Pot - don't use a cast iron pot as the base will be charred and you may need to scrub. Pot should be at least 6 litres/quarts big. If it's smaller, you can hold back some water and add it as the chicken shrinks/water evaporates (been there, done that!)
7. Clear broth - gentle simmer and scooping off scum is the path to a lovely clear broth!
8. Leftover chicken - you won't even use half the chicken for the Pho. Chicken nicely infused with Asian flavours, so use it for things like: fried rice Vietnamese Noodle Salad
   8. QUICK Pho using store bought chicken stock - follow recipe but make following changes:
9. Do not use thighs, use 500g/1lb chicken breast instead
   1. Use 6 cups low sodium chicken stock + 1 cup water (instead of just water)
   2. Reduce fish sauce to 3 tsp, use NO salt
   3. Char onion & ginger per recipe
   4. Put all spices, stock and water in pot with breast. Simmer 10 min until breast cooked, remove and shred
   5. Simmer remaining liquid for 30 min with lid open ajar, reduce to 1.5L/1.5Qt. Strain, proceed with recipe (except NO extra salt in broth).
   6. Servings - this will make 4 generous size servings (1.5 cups broth per person, makes a dinner size serving for a person with a very good appetite), 5 sensible servings, or 6 lighter servings (good for a light lunch).
10. Storage - make the broth and freeze for 3 months, or refrigerate up to 5 days. Reheat until pi
    ping hot. Do not be tempted to scoop off chicken fat that firms up in fridge - it's essential for flavour in broth and mouthfeel!
11. All toppings and noodles must be made fresh.
12. Nutrition is per serving, assuming 4 generous servings. I've had to make an educated estimate of the calories from the chicken, noting that while we extract the flavour and some of the fat into the broth, most of the chicken recipe is not used in the recipe.