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Chicken Pho | Pho Ga

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By: Cindy Lam Lorimer
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Servings: 15 bowls
Chicken pho is soul-soothing with its fresh, aromatic broth, and dipping the chicken in ginger fish sauce elevates the experience to new heights, making it the ultimate comfort food for any occasion.

Ingredients 

Broth:

  • 2 whole chickens
  • 8 green onions, cut in half
  • 8 slices ginger
  • 2 large onions, charbroiled
  • 4 inch ginger, charbroiled
  • 3 leeks, only the white part
  • ½ cup mushroom powder, plus 1 Tbsp
  • ½ cup kosher salt, plus 1 Tbsp
  • 2 Tbsp rock sugar

Ingredients:

  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 heaping Tbsp cardamom pods
  • 1 heaping Tbsp fennel seeds
  • 2 whole nutmegs
  • 3 star anise
  • 1 heaping Tbsp cloves
  • 1 heaping Tbsp coriander
  • 1 lime , peel of a lime
  • 2 tea bags pho spices, I use Pho Hoa brand
  • 2 lime leaves, optional
  • 1 handful cilantro stems, only the stems
  • 1 large daikon, cut into one-inch pieces
  • 2 lbs. carrots, cut into 3 inch pieces
  • pho noodles
  • 8 stalks green onions , cut into one inch pieces

Optional Garnish:

  • onions, thinly sliced
  • culantro
  • cilantro, chopped
  • basil
  • green onions, chopped
  • fried shallots

Optional Dipping Sauce:

  • fish dipping sauce with smashed ginger
  • hoisin sauce with sriracha

Instructions

  • Stuff each chicken cavity with green onions and 4 slices of ginger.
  • Charbroil the onions and ginger and add to a 24 quart pot along with the chicken, leeks, mushroom powder, salt, and rock sugar.
  • In a pan on medium heat, add the spices (cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, fennel, nutmeg, star anise and cloves, coriander) and fry for a couple of minutes in a dry pan until they’re fragrant. Do not let the spice burn. If they burn, throw away and start again. Never use burnt spices in your broth or you will ruin the flavor.
  • Put toasted spices and lime peels in a tea strainer, or put in a cheesecloth bag, and add to the pot.
  • Add pho hoa tea bag, lime leaves (optional), and cilantro stems.
  • Top off the pot with water.
  • Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer.
  • Let it simmer at a soft rolling boil for 2 hours.
  • After 1½ hours of simmering, add the carrots and daikon (so basically the last 30 minutes).
  • Take out the whole chicken and place it in an ice cold water bath along with the cooked daikon and carrots. This will stop the chicken from turning dark.
  • Remove the skin and cut into bite size pieces (you can shred them as well).
  • Place both the chicken and the daikon and carrots in a container and set aside.
  • Remove everything from the pho broth, leaving only the clear broth in the pot.
  • Add one inch pieces of green onions to the pho broth pot.
  • Cook the pho noodles as per the instructions on the bag. When done, drain noodles and put them in ice cold bowl of water and rinse thoroughly to get all the starch out. Put to the side and let dry.
  • Thinly slice onions and put in ice cold water bath for 5 minutes. Drain and serve with the rest of the garnish.
  • In a bowl, add pho noodles and chicken, pour pho broth into bowl.
  • Top pho bowl with sliced onions, fried shallots and the rest of the garnish.
  • You can either eat the chicken with no dipping sauce, dip the chicken meat with hoisin, or dip the chicken in a fish dipping sauce with smashed ginger.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 488kcal | Carbohydrates: 71g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 3935mg | Potassium: 596mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 10695IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 2mg

Equipment

  • 24 quarts pot
  • 16 quarts pot

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