I promised a food diary on how to make pho ga, so a food diary you will get tonight!
Anybody who is just acquainted with me knows that I am crazy about pho, or Vietnamese noodle soup (the national dish of Vietnam). Here is Exhibit A. I have it at least once every week, and thanks to a restaurant on campus that serves some pretty tasty pho, I have it in excess of three or four times every week during the semester. Addiction? Maybe. But I can think of worse things to be addicted to.
For months, I've been talking about making pho from scratch. But just talking. Blowing hot air, even. See, making pho is not for the casual cook. You have to be freaking devoted to make a pot of pho. If cooked properly, pho bo, the beef version of the soup, takes several hours to cook--many times, it's cooked literally overnight. Pho ga, the chicken version, takes less time and is slightly less involved. So, when I finally decided to stop talking about making pho and just do it, pho ga is what I chose to start with. And I pleasantly surprised myself. While it's not perfect, and it needs some work (making good pho is more art than science), the pot of pho I cranked out was very, very good. And, while a bowl of pho is certainly not expensive, it's nice to be able to pull some broth out of the freezer and whip up your own bowl rather than drive to a Vietnamese restaurant (that is, if you're blessed enough to have a Vietnamese restaurant near you). Making pho from scratch does require a serious investment of time and energy, but it's well worth it, and surprisingly doable.
Follow me below the rice noodles.
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Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the doodle...
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Before I took my first stab at making pho, I studied many different recipes and methods. I ended up primarily following this one. I had to start somewhere. I'm aware that the linked recipe is lacking some ingredients that other recipes include (such as coriander seeds, for example) and includes some ingredients that other recipes don't include. But, again, I had to start somewhere. I'll likely be making some changes the next time I make pho.
The most important thing you'll need, obviously, is a chicken. You're going to use a whole chicken that weighs about four pounds. Get that boiling in a large pot right away, because it's going to take a while.
As the chicken is boiling, constantly scrape the foam off the top with a spoon. This is important in order to achieve a clear broth.
For the broth, you'll need about two teaspoons of salt, a whole onion, some ginger root, half a head of garlic, a stick of cinammon, some star anise pods, some whole cloves, and some fish sauce (to taste). Slice the onion in half and stick the cloves in the onion.
You'll need to char the onion, ginger, garlic, and spices. The charring brings out the aroma and is an important step. A gas burner works best for charring, but if you have an electric stove like me, dry-fry the ingredients in a pan until they're nice and black. This is the type of black they should be:
The onion and ginger should be getting tender. You don't have to char the entire surface. Just char them enough to bring their aroma out. Then, scrape the charred parts off and throw them, along with the salt, in the pot. Now, eventually, you're going to have to get these spices out of the pot. If you want to do that easily, you should use a spice bag. As you can see, I'm not.
Once the pot is boiling, lower the heat to medium or medium-low, lightly cover the pot, and let it simmer for about 45 minutes. Once the chicken is fully cooked, remove it (I've found that a sturdy set of chopsticks works well for this). Run cold water over the chicken and/or refrigerate until it is cool enough to handle. Then, get all the meat off the carcass.
Break the meat into bite-size pieces with your hands or cut it with a knife.
The whole time, the pot of broth should be simmering. Once the meat is off the bones, return the carcass to the pot. Bring to a boil again, then lower the heat to medium or medium-low, lightly cover, and simmer for another two hours.
Remove everything from the pot except the broth. You're going to want a nice, clear broth. Here's what I did: First, I cleared out the carcass and the large debris. Then, to get all the gunk out of the broth, I took a very large bowl, put a strainer over it, covered the strainer with a paper towel (otherwise, some of the gunk is going to go through the holes), and poured the broth into the strainer. Then, I returned the clear broth to the pot.
Taste the broth. Add salt if necessary. Then, add some fish sauce. Start with a tablespoon and add more if desired.
And that's the broth. The most intensive part is over! Now, it's time to assemble the pho bowl.
But first, you need to boil some noodles. Use banh pho rice noodles and boil according to the package instructions, and then drain. Run cold water over the noodles to prevent them from sticking and clumping.
You also need to prepare whatever green stuff you're going to put in your bowl. Common additions include bean sprouts, spring onions, and cilantro. As for me, I'm not much for green in my pho. Most of the time, I get it without--much to the horror of my BF's mother when we went out for pho recently. But every once in a while, I'll be in the mood for cilantro. This is one of those times. Plus, I don't want to disappoint BeninSC (or, as he's known on the street, Benjamin, Lord of Cilantro). Sorry, Ben, I couldn't resist. :p So I'm going to chop some cilantro. I'm also going to slice a lime into quarters--I always squeeze some lime juice into my pho.
Now, it's time to assemble the bowl. Make sure your broth is boiling hot for this. In a large noodle bowl, add the noodles and some chicken meat.
Then, add the broth.
Throw in your greens, squeeze the lime into the bowl, and add some hoisin sauce if you'd like (I like a lot of hoisin sauce in my pho). Eat with chopsticks and an Asian soup spoon, obviously!
Enjoy! If you actually try this, you will have so much respect for the work that goes into that bowl you pay $6 or $7 for.
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