Tonight I am making one of our all-time favorite chicken soup.
It's called Pho and some people know it as Pho. Welcome to Tess's kitchen and
come along and I'll show you how to make it.
I'm going to first start off by toasting my vegetables and i am using onions and carrots.
I'm cutting up the carrots and chunks and quartering the onions.
Placing them on an oil oil baking sheet.
I'm also going to add some size piece of ginger.
I'm just going to lightly oil.
You can toast these vegetables in a dry skillet on the stove.
The object is to just get the flavor started and it's going to add a
tremendous amount of flavor to the soup!
It's been about five minutes and I'm going to flip them over at this time.
I'm also going to add about five cloves of garlic.
I didn't add them in the beginning because I don't want them to burn.
All right! Another five minutes and we'll be done. I have a large stock pot with
six quarts of water and i'm adding my roasted vegetables,
ginger and garlic to the mix. I have my heat on high.
I'm going to bring it up to heat and add my chicken. Here i have a four to five
pound whole chicken and I've washed and cleaned and trimmed off the ends.
And in she goes! I'm only going to be using the breast meat in the soup
so the dark meat will be a left over for another meal.
I'm also going to add two cups of some homemade chicken broth that i have on
hand and about four cups of additional water to bring it up to about an inch
and a half in the top.
I'm going to bring this up to a boil and then turn it down to a low simmer,
cover and cook for about 50 to 60 minutes.
Keep an eye on it and about midway flip the chicken.
Give it a good stir just so it cooks evenly.
The chicken is done i'm going to remove it from the pot and let it rest
for 10-15 minutes.
Now for my favorite part! The spices!
This is a spice packet and you can get this at your local Asian store.
It's just a mix of spices to flavor the soup. There is coriander, anise, cinnamon,
cardamom, black pepper, fennel seed and cloves.
There's lots of companies that offer the mixed spice packets.
They are nice and convenient.
Although i do end up adding more spices it's all about the flavor.
For me I'm adding a few more cloves and a few more black peppercorns.
Each spice is a flavor that stands out in the soup.
They are all bold but they all work together and once you make the soup two
or three times you get to know which flavors you like and what you don't.
So you can adjust your seasonings to your taste.
To bring out the flavors and oils of the spices
I'm going to toast them in my dry cast iron skillet.
Not long! Only three to four minutes on low medium.
You'll start to smell the spices and the aroma is just incredible!
This spice pack does come with the tie cloth bag. After you are done toasting
the spices you can put the spices in the bag and then in the broth but i like to
put my spices directly into the broth.
It doesn't matter because in the end we're going to strain the broth
plus I think it adds more flavor.
But don't throw that bag away tuck it away in your drawer.
They are always nice to have in the kitchen and they are good for soups.
Now I'm adding those glorious spices to the broth and the smell is just unbelievable!
Now it's time to add the fish sauce. This is going to add the saltiness to the soup.
This happens to be the fish sauce brand that I have and a little bit of it does go a
long way.
It's all about taste and adjustment for me I am adding 2 tablespoons for this
amount of soup. You may want to consider adding three or 4. I left my chicken cool
and deboned it and now I'm adding those bones back into the broth to give even
more depth of flavor!
I'm going to cook the broth for another 30 to 45 minutes on a low simmer to get
the most flavor that I can out of the bones.
And this is the white meat that I got from the chicken I cooked.
You can use white meat or dark meat whichever you prefer.
We happen to like the white meat. I'm just going to cut thin slices for the soup.
Pho Ga is a famous Vietnamese chicken noodle soup becoming widely popular
all around the world and rightly so. I could eat the soup three times a day every day!
The Pho is also very good with brisket and or tripe
but today i am making chicken.
Now the Pho rice noodles are made by a lot of
different companies and come in many varieties.
This is a package i just happened to pick up today.
They come in different widths from very fine to
big stick noodles. I usually go for something in between.
I'm soaking my noodles in very very hot water, almost boiling.
I'm letting them soak for three minutes and then going to rinse them under very
cold water.
The rice noodles are just like pasta, you want them al dente.
I've turned the heat off and i've had the broth setting here for about 10 minutes.
There's some foam and grease on the top and I'm going to skim off.
This is going to help keep the broth nice and clear.
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And now I'm straining the broth and the smell, the smell is just wonderful!
I can't wait to eat! The broth has absorbed all those flavors, the chicken
the vegetables and spices.
I ended up with 30 cups of broth and I definitely will be freezing some!
And now the condiments! I have here about a cup of thinly sliced red onions and i'm
adding a quarter a cup of water and a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar.
I'm going to more or less pickle them and to add a little zing! I'm going to
add some ground chilies and a little bit of sugar.
I'm going to set that to the side and let it do its thing for about 30 minutes.
For the other condiments we have sriracha sauce, some fresh thai basil.
LOVE fresh Thai basil. Bean sprouts, some fresh snow peas, chopped scallions,
and red chilies for heat, hoisin sauce and some fresh lime.
AND
finally, let's make a bowl of soup!
and you'll notice that I left out a couple of famous condiments.
One is cilantro.
My husband doesn't like it. The other is jalapenos and I just couldn't find any
at the store.
So that's why i added the red chilies. It's all a matter of taste and what you
like and what you don't like.
But i will say give them all try. I didn't think I was going to like the
squeeze of lime at the end but I really think it gives a super punch to the soup!
Just hits all the right notes!
It is visually beautiful and the smell, the smell is incredible!
The texture and the crunchy bean sprouts and snow peas...
all the flavors marry together. You have the richness of the broth. All the
spices and individual flavors of anise and cinnamon and cardamom and you
can even taste the hint of ginger and garlic in the background.
Now you can put the sriracha or the hoisin sauce directly in your soup
but this is how I was taught to eat it. You take equal amounts of your hoisin
sauce and sriracha and give it a good mix.
Then take your meat from your soup and dip it in the sauce. It is delicious!
I even take my noodles and dip it in the sauce. This Pho soup is not as
intimidating as it looks.
I really hope you give it a try it is well worth it!
I really believe this soup somehow nourishes the soul.
I hope you make it, love it and enjoy.
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