Pho ga (or lazy woman's noodle soup)

I had one happy family at home today. Although the chicken version of pho was not their first preference they figured that any pho would be better then no pho at all. I normally make pho bo, with is the noodle soup with a beef broth, but this dish is very time consuming and takes twice a much work as noodle soup with a chicken broth. I made pho ga once before and it tasted so good, I decided to share the recipe.

Because I think the broth tasted better when you make it one day ahead this is a dish that needs some planning. I actually started to cook this dish on Saturday and we didn’t get to eat it till today because we had dinner at my mom’s yesterday.

Let me give you a list of ingredients to make things easier. Feel free to adapt the quantity because the list of ingredients is what I used for my hug pot of pho ga. Since the family love it so much I always make a big pot so we can eat it for 2 days and if they are lucky for another 3^rd day.

For the broth:

-          one handful star anise

-          1 cinnamon stick

-          half an onion

-          about 4 cm of ginger

-          3 fresh bay leaves

-          almost 2 kilo of chicken legs and thighs

-          salt and pepper

The broth is the deal maker or breaker. It needs to be clear and have a slightly star anise and cinnamon flavor.

I started with toasting the star anise, the cinnamon, the onion and the ginger. This will bring out all the nice flavors. Then I put the star anise in a coffee filter and tied it with a string. The rest of the ingredients went straight into the pan. You don’t want to put the star anise straight in the pan otherwise it will fall apart after you boil it for a long time and it will take you lots of time to remove them.

I cleaned the chicken and removed the skin. You can leave it on and take it out later, but I figured as I didn’t going to eat it, I might as well remove it now.

You’ll have to make sure you scoop the foam out frequently so you end up with a clear broth. Make sure you season the broth before the chicken goes in and after when the chicken is cooked. Since the water reduces while cooking you can add more and then season it to your taste.

Cook it for at least one hour and then set it aside. I had my pan outside the fridge and therefore I had to bring it back to a boil every day so it didn’t turn bad. Of course it would be better to store it in the fridge, but mine was totally packed.

The next day soak your dried noodles till they are soft. I soaked mine before I went to work. After I got home I got the chicken out and shredded the meat in big pieces. Then I brought my broth to a boil.

To finish this dish off you’ll need:

-          bean spouts

-          coriander

-          spring onion

-          sweet Thai basil

I chopped the coriander and spring onion and mixed them together with some slices of raw onion.

I boiled some water in a pan for my noodles. Instead of boiling all the noodles at one time I boiled every portion separate in a kitchen sieve.

I started with cooking some bean sprouts. They only take a couple of seconds.

Same goes for the noodles. If you are not sure if they are cooked just try one.

Since the chicken was cold I put them in a big spoon and held it in the broth for a little.

This all is topped with the coriander/spring onion mixture.

Make sure the broth is boiling when you poor it into your bowl.

Sprinkle some drops of lemon, one dollop of hoi sin sauce and some chili sauce and you are ready to go.

I love my pho with some sweet Thai basil. Here you go, my lazy woman’s pho recipe.

Best PHO in town

Last weekend was very busy for us. On Saturday my hubby and I woke up early to go to the Toko (Chinese supermarket) and the Haagse Markt (open air market). We had to get some stuff for my famous pho (beef noodle soup). One of our good friends would come over for dinner on Sunday and I always like to cook to impress. Pho always wow people, especially since Vietnamese cuisine is not really well known in Holland. There is just a small Vietnamese population, noting compared to the population in other countries or the States, where almost more Vietnamese people live then in Vietnam. 
However the Chinese population is very big here, so we get to profit from that. Not everything is available so we learned to substitute one ingredient for another. So thank god for the Tokos for selling similar stuff we use in the Vietnamese kitchen.

To be honest I have never been a big fan of pho. My favorite is bunh rieu or bunh bo hue (recipe will follow) but since my hubby loves pho I get to make it more often. Got to keep the hubby happy right? My baby sister is a big fan of pho also. Both of them can eat it all day every day.

Pho always taste better when you cook it one day ahead. So Saturday was pho cooking day. The most important part of pho is the broth. This is how I made it.

I started with searing one onion which I chopped in quarters and some pieces of ginger in a hot pan without any oil. Searing will give the broth more flavor.

Then I removed the onion (I want them seared not black) and put some star aniseed and one cinnamon stick in the pan. I crushed the cinnamon so it will be easier to put them in a bag later. By heating the spices they will release more flavor. When you start smelling the spices it is time to put them in a bag. I always use two coffee filters to put my spices in, but a little cotton bag would work too. A tea egg would also work, but it might be a little bit too small to hold all the spices. At this time I decided to put the spices in two different coffee filters so the bag hopefully don't rip. I tied the bags with a string at set it aside. If you put your spices straight in the water, it will be difficult to get them all out in one time and the long cooking time will make the broth very dark.
The ginger and the onion will go in the pot separately so they will not crowed the coffee filter.  I got some beef bones and marrowbones which I rinsed in water first. Then I boiled some water and put them in. After the water cooks for about 2 minutes I drained the bones and rinsed them with water again. This will give me a clear broth. 

I use beef bones because this is a beef noodle soup. This same dish can be made with chicken also. It’s the same recipe but all the beef is substituted by chicken. 
Then I rinsed some stew beef, since it was the cheapest meat I could find. But oxtail would also be good also. Anything that can be simmered for a long time is good.I filled a big pot with water, added some salt, the ginger, onion and some fresh bay leaves and wait for it to boil.After the water boils I added all the meat. When the foam forms on top of the broth remove it with a big scooper. Every couple of minutes I would check the pot and remove any foam I see. The more foam you remove the more clear the broth will be, so make sure you do it every couple of minutes.Only after most of the foam is gone I'll put in the bags of spices. The spices will release a flavor that's very typical for this dish.

This is how my broth looks like after a few hours cooking. I added more water and seasoned it with salt when needed. Now get it off the fire and let it rest till the next day, either on your kitchen counter or in the fridge. Then whatever fat is on top can be scooped out before putting it on the fire again.

The next day while the broth is back on the fire I started preparing the rest of this dish.
I bought a really nice piece of steak (biefstuk or kogelbiefstuk). For the raw meat I need the softest meat I could find. I sliced it as thin as I could and put it in a box to store it in the fridge.
The way to keep the meat soft and tender is to slice it against the grain. Look for the part that looks like the one I’m holding and start slicing from that part on.
Pho will not be complete without beef balls (bo vien gan). I always buy them precooked and frozen at the Toko and this is the one I like. I try to keep at least one package in my freezer so I have it at hand when needed. Saves me a trip to the Toko.After defrosting you can slice it anyway you like. I like to slice in three parts so it looks like there is a lot.I soaked 2 packages of dried pho noodles, again to be found in the Toko. They have small, medium, larger or extra large noodles and I prefer the small or medium one. The large or extra large have just a bit too much noodle for me.I washed and thinly sliced some spring onions. I did the same for the cilantro or coriander and put them in a box for storage. I also added some thinly slice raw onion.About 15 minutes before dinner I added the beef balls. Since they are already cooked they don’t need to cook long and I like them to be a little bit chewy.
I already cut the stew meat in little pieces and put them back in the broth. Now it's time to plate up.First boil water some water in a separate pot. In the boiling water I first put a strainer with some bean sprouts to soften them a bit. After that I put in some noodle. Since I soaked them in water first, they only need about halve a minute. A quick plunge in cooking water is already enough. If you put them in the boiling water too long the noodle will break up in little pieces.
Then the spring onion, coriander and onion mixture goes in. Some people like to put this on top of the raw meat, but I like the spring onion to cook a little so I put them under the meat.I rearranged the raw meat so that they covered everything. This is for people who love meat! The hot broth will cook the meat in the bowl, but for people who can not eat raw meat I would dip it in the broth first before putting it in the bowl.And this is how I serve it.

I like to eat it with lots of herbs (sweet Thai basil, coriander and mint) some hoi sin sauce, chili pepper sauce and of course a little bit of lemon juice.

My hubby needs his dipping bowl with part hoi sin sauce part chili sauce for his meat balls.

We end up eating this for the next 2 days. My family was so lucky…got to eat their favorite food for 2 days in a row. And I was so lucky…no cooking for 2 days.