Pho Gà - Magic Chicken Pho (& Ginger Dipping Sauce)
Phở Gà, Magic Chicken Pho (Serves 6-8)
1 fist sized piece of ginger for the broth, and 1 for the sauce
3 medium onions (2 Roasted for broth, 1 Raw for serving)
4 quarts water (at least)
2 TB salt
1 TB sugar or TB agave for the broth, and 1/4 tsp per person for the sauce
2 whole tangerines or 1 large orange
_______
1 Whole Chicken (6-7 lbs)
1 ½ Sticks of Cinnamon (Saigon Cinnamon if you can find it)
4 Cloves
8-10 Star Anise
2 Amomum/Black CardamomPods (smashed, optional)
2 TBS coriander seeds
2 TBS fennel seeds
2 Chicken Boullion Cubes
2 TBS of fish sauce (at least)
_______
SERVE WITH:
1 Package of Fresh/Refrigerated Pho Noodles (dehydrated/dry if you must)
Thai Basil (Sweet Italian if you must)
Cilantro
Lime Wedges
Bean Sprouts (Optional)
Thinly sliced Green and White Onions (Optional)
Sliced Thai Chili/Jalapeño (Optional)
Sriracha, Hoisin Sauce, Tabasco (Optional)
_______
Ginger Sauce:
Cooking/Olive Oil for sautéing
1 Large Hand of Ginger (peeled and julienned)
Soy Sauce (1 TS per per person, enough to cover each serving of the sautéed ginger)
Sesame Oil (1/4 TS per person)
Lime Juice or Rice Wine Vinegar (1/4 TS per person)
Agave ( or honey or sugar- to taste, approx. 1/4 TS per person)
Freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
____________________________________________________________________________
Pho has magical healing powers, the herbs and spices combine to help with just about anything that ails you. (Except Racism, you’ll need more than soup to help with that.) This recipe yields 6-8 bowls and is best shared with loved ones. It’s an easy way to feed a crowd since most of the work is done the night before.This recipe can easily be doubled if you have a 3+ gallon soup pot, or two large pots for simultaneous production. The broth freezes beautifully too. The time commitment and process seem daunting, but it’s really not difficult and is entirely worth it.
My mom walks me through my very first complete solo production of Phở Gà here:
_________________________________________________________________________________
PART ONE:
For best results, tenderest chicken and deepest flavor, do this part before going to bed the night before you plan to serve the soup.
Roast onions and ginger in the air fryer for 22-25 minutes. If you don’t have an air fryer, you can roast them on a sheet tray in the oven, put them directly on the gas burner of your stove or wrapped in tin foil on your electric cooktop until they develop some char. You aren’t making charcoal, just developing caramelization and flavor. Let the aromatics cool until you can easily handle them. Peel and remove the charred onion skin, a little caramelized skin left behind is fine. Slice the ginger into ¼ inch slices.
Bring approximately 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large soup pot. Add caramelized onions, ginger, 2 TBS of salt, 1 TBS of sugar and 2 tangerines or small oranges. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. (This is a good time to prepare the ginger sauce below)
Add a rinsed whole chicken to the pot, make sure you have enough water to fully submerge the chicken in the pot. Bring the water back up to boil, skimming and discarding the fat and foam from the top. After about five minutes of a heavy boil, add the lid and lower the heat to a simmer for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes of simmering, you can leave the lid on, turn off the heat and let the carry over heat poach the chicken overnight and resume preparations the next morning.
PART TWO:
You want to heat up the spices to release their oils and flavor. You can do this in a dry pan on the stove over medium heat, just watch them because they tend to burn when you get distracted doing other things. The easiest thing to do is wrap them in tin foil and stick the packet in the air fryer or oven for 15 minutes. Transfer to a large tea steeping ball or a cheese cloth bag. It is important to keep the coriander and fennel seeds from floating freely in the broth, they are not pleasant to eat with your noodles. The cinnamon and star anise are fine to float, you can easily remove those before serving.
1) If you are cooking everything on the same day: Once you’ve cooked the chicken covered in the pot for 30 minutes, it’s time to introduce the spices. If the chicken isn’t fully covered by broth, add water until it is re-submerged. Add the tea ball of spices to the pot and let it boil for 5 minutes. Leave the pot covered, turn off the stove and let it steep for at least 90 minutes. Do not remove the lid for any reason during the steeping period. The best tasting pho steeps for 3-7 hours before serving. When you are finished steeping, remove the cooked chicken and let it rest on a plate. Add 2 TBS of fish sauce and bring the soup back up to a boil while you finish preparations.
2) If you did part one the night before: Remove the chicken from the pot the next morning. Let it cool and put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. Skim any fat or foam from the top of the broth, then add the tea ball to the pot and simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes. Then turn off the heat, replace the lid and let the flavors meld until you are ready to serve. Add 2 TBS of fish sauce and bring the pot back to a boil before serving.
Taste your broth. You may have had to add water to keep that chicken submerged. Feel free to add more salt, sugar, or fish sauce to taste.
You don’t want to put cold chicken in your soup, so either thinly slice the chicken and microwave it in your broth for a few seconds, or warm the slices in your ladle in the broth while you are microwaving each set of noodles.
PREPARE THE NOODLES:
The fresh/refrigerated pho noodles at the asian grocery store are by far the best tasting and easiest to prepare. Just take them out of the package, give them a quick rinse, and microwave them in each individual bowl with some thinly sliced onions (white and green) for approx. 1 minute. The noodles don’t soften up quite enough under the broth, so that head start makes a difference.
If fresh noodles are not an option for you, you can buy them dried at the Asian grocery store. You have to buy them in at least a 3 pack on Amazon, but don’t worry, you’ll want to make Pho again. Follow the instructions on the package- but it’s really just softening them up in boiling water. Keep them al dente, nothing is worse than soggy noodles.
SERVING:
Wash and plate fresh cilantro, Thai Basil, and bean sprouts. Thinly slice fresh chili peppers if you like it spicy, add lime wedges and you are good to go.
Sriracha, Hoisin Sauce and Fish Sauce are traditional condiments. I add Tabasco sauce because it and vodka are my favorite accessories to any meal.
GINGER SAUCE: (Optional)
Chicken pho tastes like nothing at most restaurants so I naturally lean toward beef pho. This chicken pho has lots of flavor, and it beats beef pho if there is ginger sauce available. This sauce is really simple and easily repurposed for other dishes.
Peel a large fist sized piece of ginger (with the back of a spoon or knife.) Julienne/cut into small strips. Add cooking/olive oil to a frying pan on medium heat, then the thinly sliced ginger and sauté until golden brown with some caramelization on the edges.
We leave the ginger separate from the liquid because it keeps better in the refrigerator on its own. I suggest making small portions of the combined ginger and sauce at a time.
For each person, it is approximately: 1-2 TBS of soy sauce , 1/4 TSP of sesame oil, and 1/4 tsp of honey/agave or sprinkle of sugar depending on how sweet you like your sauce. Add some fresh cracked black pepper, and some lime juice or rice wine vinegar for acid. Spoon your ginger in your ramekin/sauce bowls, then cover with spoonfuls of your liquid. You want to just cover the warm ginger with it. Dip your chicken in the sauce, snagging slivers of ginger as you eat your pho. Reheat the ginger in the microwave to warm before making more sauce for leftovers. You need the heat to release the ginger magic.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NOTES:
This recipe is the clearest I’ve ever gotten it from my mom, but I’ll keep working on it and make some adjustments as we go. I promise I will get better at these videos, this was a tough one to capture.
If clear broth is very important to you, remove that tea ball /cinnamon/anise without a terribly long steep. The color from the spices leaches into the broth. I prefer maximum potency for the flavor and leave it in, but purists will have you pull it out with your first serving. People that reheat and add water will want to taste to see if you need to add more for subsequent rounds.
If there is an International Market in your town, I highly recommend you go for your ingredients, especially the fresh pho noodles. I know it can be intimidating and some of the smells are overwhelming, but it is definitely going to be the cheapest and easiest way to get everything you need. Amazon buying all of these spices in bulk is going to cost you more than a few pretty pennies, and even the loveliest American grocery stores don’t carry EVERYTHING you need.
There are TONS of pho spice kits available online and in stores. This will help keep you from having to buy bulk amounts of each ingredient. I’ve seen this one on Amazon in more than one relative’s pantry. They even make Pho tea bags of spices, just boil the spices in the bag (do NOT cut it open.) I wouldn’t say this is a great shortcut, but it is a good supplement if you are having trouble locating everything you need or want some training wheels as you go.
For my Nashville friends: K&S Market on Charlotte is my favorite spot for supplies.There is a Vietnamese grocery in the same shopping center, and it is the only place I’ve found in town that sells the thinly sliced beef served with beef pho and New Year Rice Cakes. My favorite pho place is across the street, VN Pho and Deli.
Thai Chilis are traditional, but you usually have to buy a big package. They keep well in the freezer, but if you aren’t going to use them all, Jalapeño or Serrano definitely work too.
When you sit down to eat, don’t forget to take the basil leaves off the stem, and rip them and the cilantro up so you have manageable pieces to fit in your chopsticks/spoon.
Pho is a two handed sport. If chopsticks are not in your wheelhouse, use some kitchen scissors to cut your noodles into bite sized pieces before adding your broth. You can also fork the noodles like spaghetti and alternate bites with spoonfuls of broth.
I don’t know ANY non-Asian people who have bowls the right size to eat Pho at home. I’ve eaten take out pho from serving bowls without their lids, huge Tupperware, and pots because cereal bowls and shallow salad bowls are just not going to cut it. You can get everything you need at the Asian grocery store when you get spices. I’ve purchased these bowls for friends on more than one occasion after laughingly raiding their kitchen for a vessel that will hold all that broth. Your spoons might be frustrating too. Don’t get fancy and go for ceramic or steel spoons. They are both miserable. These types of plastic large spoons are the best thing for your kitchen if you are going to be eating pho or ramen at home.
I’m sure you have some leftover disposable chopsticks from some take out sushi or Chinese, but if you are in the market for chopsticks, here’s a quick lesson. Traditionally, Wood chopsticks are for cooking, plastic/fiberglass chopsticks are for eating. Wood so they dont scratch or melt in your pans, plastic so the dishwasher can get them nice and clean for your mouth. Now there are some great sealed wood options that can do double duty. Look for chopsticks with a nice tapered end, the blunt ended ones don’t let you grab as easily for slippery things like noodles. I’ve linked some sets that are dishwasher safe. You’re going to snap some chopsticks washing them in the silverware basket, so be careful. I wash mine horizontally on the top rack, or upside down in the basket and hope for the best. If they gets warped, throw them out. You will hate trying to snag anything small if you have a misshapen chopstick unless you’re an expert level eater.
The giant steeping ball isn’t something you will use for much else. You can get a two pack of smaller ones for so cheap on Amazon-you could just use two for the spices or float the star anise with the cinnamon and save one steeping ball for tea.
LEFTOVERS:
If your eyes were bigger than your stomach and you can’t quite finish your bowl- separate your noodles and broth to store. I know this sounds ridiculous, but if you don’t do it you should just throw the rest out. Take out places give you the noodles and broth separately for a reason. The broth will break down the noodles and make a gelatinous mess you will NOT want to eat the next day.
You can keep your pho broth covered in the pot on the stove overnight, just be sure to remove the meat, and bring the soup to a boil the next day and before you serve the soup again. You can also pour it into a Tupperware and refrigerate once cooled. This broth will become gelatinous in the fridge, so skim off the fat on top before adding it back to a pan to reheat.
Pho gets better with every meal, leftovers are great. I don’t know many people that can eat 8 servings in a row though- so this is a great thing to make for friends and family. Or make a batch and deliver it to a sick friend and eat the rest yourself. If you are COVID Quarantining all alone- the broth freezes well.
Pho real, I hope you enjoy! I’ll be working with my uncle for his vegetarian pho recipe and my grandmother for the beef version. Let me know how it goes for you! I’m ready to practice again already.
After years of hearing about my mom’s magical pho, she visited and made three pots for the friends I regularly took on pho field trips. I didn’t keep much from my kitchen, but my beloved pho bowls and teal plastic spoons are in storage in the attic.
