Very little know about the benefits of a nice hot bowl of steaming Pho. It can be a quick solution to many of life’s little problems. When you have a cold, during the freezing winter or on a rainy day. Anytime of the day is a perfect time for pho. It is simply the perfect comfort food!
This is one of our favourite Vietnamese classics, next to the Vietnamese summer rolls. 🇻🇳 It uses a variety of ingredients and herbs, and all the flavours blend in perfectly.
This is one of our trickier recipes and requires a lot of patience, but the pay-off is definitely worth it. For a delicious broth, you want to let the flavours infuse for at least an hour and a half, the longer you cook the broth, the stronger and more delicious it becomes.
🕒 2-3 hours 👤 6-7 people
Ingredients
Whole chicken
Ginger – 2 medium size
2–3 onions
Pho noodles
Fish sauce
2–3 rock sugar (or sugar if not available)
Chicken powder
Spice Ingredients
2 tbsp fennel
3 tbsp coriander seeds
5 star anise
5 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Topping Ingredients
Coriander
Green onions
Lemon or lime
Optional
Chilli
Beans sprout
Mint
Thai basil
Sriracha
Hoisin sauce
Method
Clean the chicken and boil for 10 min to get rid of the dirt and scum. Pour and strain the chicken, then rinse with cold water and leave on aside.
Peel onions and ginger char on an open fire – this provides a subtle smokey fragrance to the broth that is a signature feature of Pho. So char them well. Once charred run them under cold water to clean off the burnt excess and leave aside.
In a dry pan add all the spices and pan fry for 3-5 min till you get a nice brown colour and start smelling the aromas. Give the pan a frequent shake as you do not want the spices to burn. Leave aside once done.
Add cold water in a big pot, wait till boil and simmer steps 1- 3, fish sauce and rock sugar gently for 1.5 hrs to infuse the water with all those incredible broth flavourings.
Whilst you wait for the broth to simmer. Prepare all of the toppings. o Finely chop green onions and coriander o Finely chop chillies (Optional) o Quarter the limes
Carefully take the chicken out and shred the chicken onto a plate.
Salt broth – Season to your taste bud by adding more fish sauce and chicken powder
Boil pho noodles to your preference. (Follow package instruction to cook – Dependant on brand and type)
Assembling the perfect pho bowl
1. Place all toppings out on a table.
2. Reheat chicken by briefly dunking in the broth)
3. Place noodles in bowl. Top with chicken
4. Pile on toppings of your choice
5. Pour the broth over the bowl with a squeeze of lime and enjoy!
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