(Vietnamese) Chicken Pho

First purchase for year 2012: Lactasoy (soy milk) with Green Tea and ingredients for.. Chicken Pho!

If I can make Fresh Vietnamese Springroll and Vietnamese Pomelo Salad with Panfried Cumin Shrimp (i-bblog ko ito promise guys), I sure as hell can make Vietnamese Chicken Pho. Vietnamese overload ang tema ng paragraph na ito gels and boyz.

And I saw this lying around the condo, that's why Len was so enganyo to make luto-luto the Chicken Pho! 

Chicken Pho (adapted from Apron Cookbook "Vietnamese Favourites")

3 litres (12 cups) chicken stock

12cm piece fresh ginger (60g), sliced thinly

fish sauce (patis); according to your taste

2 cloves garlic, quartered

1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro (wansuy) root and stem mixture

1 star anise

340g chicken breast fillets, sliced thinly

400g dried rice noodles

12 green onion, sliced

3 cups bean sprouts

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh vietnamese mint leaves

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro (wansuy leaves)

1 medium lemon cut into wedges

1 Combine stock, ginger, sauce, garlic, cilantro, root and stem mixture and star anise in large saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Strain stock into large heatproof jug; discard solids

2 Return stock to pan, add chicken; simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

3 Place noodles in medium heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water; stand until just tender and drain.

4 Divide noodles, onion and sprouts among serving bowls; pour over hot soup, top with mint and cilantro (wansuy) leaves. Serve with lemon wedges and chili sauce.

Pero dahil epal ako at minsan ayaw kong sundan ang instructions sa recipe (except for baking), here is what I truly did:

1 Cover and boil one whole chicken. Once cooked, remove whole chicken from saucepan, set aside. 

2 Put in the chicken stock the following ingredients: ginger, patis, garlic cilantro (roots and all) star anise (I put around 3 pieces) let boil for 15 minutes. By the way, I add a little bit of brown sugar in mine.. around 2 teaspoons for a somewhat sweet undertones for the soup.. Then after 15 mins, strain your soup and put in a jug or container, set aside and keep it warm

3 Shred of the chicken meat of the bones, then chop it according to your liking

4 Cook the rice noodles

5 Arrange everything in your bowl. Put in your noodles first, pour in soup, arrange the topping like the chicken, wansuy, mint leaves and bean sprouts

6 Enjoy!

Kakaririn ko ang plating next time, promise! 

Notes:

• Rice Noodles - can be bought in noodles section in any SM Supermarkets. Bought mine in Megamall Supermarket Building A. Look for the Fat and Thin Brand na Rice Noodle because it's yummy and cheap 
• Less greasy soup - if you want to follow my procedure and use chicken stock.. I suggest, after boiling and cooking the chicken, you refrigerate the soup for the chicken oil to solidify. It will be easier for your to take out the oil from the soup