Vietnamese Pho

Vietnam is a bustling place – vibrant, exciting and eye-opening from the food to the insane variety of goods, people and animals carried on the backs of the ever-present scooters! It was a wonderful opportunity to sample new tastes as well as familiar dishes such as Vietnamese spring rolls, which tasted even better in their original setting. For Zander, one favourite dish was pho, essentially chicken soup with Asian spices and rice noodles. While we can’t exactly replicate it here as our range of spices are a bit more limited but it’s rare that I am allowed to throw away a chicken carcass after a roast! If you don’t have a chicken carcass, start with some chicken legs, thighs and wings. Pho makes a great light or main meal, or even a starter to be part of a broader Asian menu – in Vietnam it’s also a staple breakfast option.

Serves: 4-6 portions as main course

Time to prepare/cook: Approximately 3-4 hours in total, only 1 hour of which requires the cook’s attention. 20 minutes to wash, chop and assemble the ingredients in the pot; 2 ½ - 3 hours to boil; 15 minutes to pick through bones and vegetables to save the edible parts; 15-20 minutes to reheat and cook rice noodles and spinach before serving

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Ingredients

• Carcass/bones from roast chicken, including with meat still on and from plates, plus any gravy left over or 500g uncooked chicken legs, thighs and wings

• 2 litres of water (enough to more than cover the bones in a large pot)

• 2 cubes/portions of chicken stock

• I onion finely chopped

• I carrot finely chopped (if available)

• 2 stems of celery finely chopped (if available)

• 1 stem lemon grass

• Ginger (chopped fresh ginger or powder) – 2 teaspoons of powder or small handful if chopped fresh ginger

• Dried kaffir lime leaves if available – 6 to 8 leaves

• Coriander and basil – handful of each

• Thai fish sauce – 2 table spoons

• 250g rice noodles

• 100g baby spinach leaves

• Soy sauce/sambal oelek to add as wanted when serving

• Pots & pans needed: 2 large saucepans, chopping knives and board, sieve, frying pan if using uncooked chicken

Method

• If starting with uncooked chicken, fry this first in a frying pan with a little olive oil for 5 minutes each side to start the cooking process

• Put chicken bones/carcass (or fried chicken), water, stock cubes, onion, carrot, celery, lemongrass, ginger, lime leaves and Thai fish sauce into a large saucepan, ensuring water covers the bones completely, put on a lid and bring to the boil

• Once boiling, turn the soup down to a medium/low heat and simmer for 2 ½ - 3 hours; if necessary add more water halfway through cooking to ensure the ingredients are well covered

• Turn off heat and let the soup cool for a few minutes until it is cool enough to work with, then strain liquid through a sieve into another pan (or 2 as needed)

• Pick through the bones, meat and vegetables left in the sieve to remove all bones, skin, and inedible parts; save and put any meat, vegetables and lemon grass/ginger that can be retrieved into the strained liquid

• Keep the strained liquid and meat/vegetables to one side until 15-20 minutes before serving (keep cool in the fridge if overnight)

• 15-20 minutes before serving add the coriander and basil to the liquid and bring the pho up to the boil then turn down to a low heat and simmer for 10 minutes

• Add the rice noodles and cook them (still at low heat) for 10 minutes in the pho, adding the spinach 3 minutes before the noodles should be done, then it is ready to serve

• Put soy sauce/sambal oelek on the table for people to add as they want