Pho ga soup; Vietnamese chicken soup

Pho ga soup - Vietnamese chicken soup

An unusual first dish of Asian cuisine is Vietnamese pho soup. Like a huge number of local soups, it is prepared with rice noodles. A distinctive feature of similar first courses is that most of the ingredients are added to the plate specifically when serving and serving, rather than being prepared all together.

Pho soup is not prepared according to a specific recipe and is often cooked according to one’s mood. There are various options that are very similar to each other, but are served with various additives. A soup in which beef is added when served is usually called pho bo (phở bò). If pieces of fish, fish sticks or balls are added to the soup, it is called pho ca (phở cá). The most fascinating Vietnamese soup, which is easy to repeat here, is with chicken, pho ga soup (phở gà).

Vietnamese chicken soup is a fairly ordinary first course, despite some exotic ingredients. No one can reliably say about the origin of the soup itself and its name. Apparently, the Vietnamese pho soup recipe is a rather complex composition of various first courses, including French cuisine, something from Chinese noodle soups, laksa, etc.

According to CNN (World's 50 most delicious foods), pho soup is among the top most delicious dishes in the world. Most often, chicken pho ga soup is prepared with beef broth or vegetable broth. When serving, add snow-white rice noodles, thin slices of chicken, which is cut with bones, greens, fried or raw snow-white onions, and lime. Special additives include sprouts, usually soybeans, beans or wheat, lemongrass, mint and hot pepper.

Pho ga soup is served hot. This is a unique composition of smells in one dish. Around the world, pho soup recipes are interpreted and changed within wide limits. In general, this does not make the dish the least tasty, but rather the most special.

If you live in Hanoi, they will prepare an authentic and “true” Vietnamese pho soup for you. Far from the historical homeland, it is not always possible to find all the necessary components, and the properties of those available can vary significantly. We decided to make chicken pho soup using commercially available ingredients and were surprised that we could buy everything, or almost everything.

Ingredients for pho soup

Chicken 1 piece
Rice noodles 100 g
Lime 2 pcs
Snow-white or young onions 1 pc.
Mint 2-3 sprigs
Cilantro 0.5 bunch
Mung bean sprouts (soybeans, wheat, peas, radishes) 50 g
Chili pepper 1 pc.
Ginger 1 piece
Cucumber 1 piece
Green onions 2-3 pcs
Lemongrass (lemon grass) 1 pc.
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Carrots, onions, soup roots for broth
Soy sauce 1 tbsp. l.
Star anise 1 piece

How to make pho soup

At first glance, it may seem that the ingredients are simply fantastic and difficult to obtain. No need to despair, everything is on sale. Prepare yourself a delicious first course, it's worth it.

Chicken broth for soup

Boil chicken with carrots, onions and roots

Preparing vegetables for pho soup

Vegetables and herbs for preparing and serving soup

Pea and soy sprouts for soup

Cutting vegetables and herbs for serving soup

Vegetables and herbs for serving soup

Preparing noodles for soup

Add ginger, garlic, lemongrass to the broth

Add star anise, soy sauce and lime juice to the broth

Boil rice noodles in broth

Serving pho ga soup

Place cooked rice noodles on a plate

Arrange the chopped chicken

Add chopped cucumber, onion and lemongrass

Pho Bo with beef

Pho Bo soup (phở bò) is a classic of Vietnamese cuisine, beef noodle soup. Consists of rich meat broth, rice noodles and herbs. The dish is hot and spicy because it is prepared with the addition of a huge amount of spices.

This is a daily dish; most importantly, the Vietnamese love to eat it for breakfast. Vendors sell Pho soup right on the streets, boiling it in huge pots that bubble continuously for days. And this is not an exaggeration, because the most delicious broth is considered to be one that is cooked for at least 12 hours. Each family has its own recipe. The taste may vary depending on the region, but there are also classics that restaurants, including foreign ones, adhere to.

Traditional Pho Bo Recipe

Always made from beef. First, the bone broth is boiled for a long time (onion, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, saffron and other spices are added to it). Prepare the noodles separately. They pour noodles into a bowl, put boiled or raw meat into it, cut into thin slices, like for carpaccio, pour it all over with bubbling broth and season it with a huge amount of herbs (hot sauce is often added). The most commonly used greens are green onions, cilantro, basil, and bean sprouts. Serve with lime or lemongrass. They eat soup with wood sticks.

Secrets of making Vietnamese soup

To make the broth strong, Pho Bo is made from beef bones. Long bones (shank bones) are ideal, but brisket will also work.
The most delicious soup is considered to be one that consists of two types of beef: boiled until fully cooked and half-raw carpaccio (which is thinly sliced and only scalded with broth). You will be able to eat only one of the presented types of meat.
In order for the pieces of carpaccio to be perfect - soft and pinkish in color - the meat must be cut very thin, almost like paper. Thanks to this cutting, it will instantly cook and change color, as if scalded by a bubbling broth. It is best to take cuts that are naturally of the highest quality, selected and fresh.
No oil is used for production at all. Instead of frying onions as usual for us, the Vietnamese prefer to cut the onion into two parts and grill for a few minutes. Charred and together with the husk, it is lowered into the broth, due to which it acquires a wonderful color and a special smell.
Rice noodles, of course, are best consumed hand-cooked and fresh. But in our realities, a ready-made one purchased in a store is completely suitable. The main thing is not to overcook it. It is correct to cook the noodles to medium readiness, because they will still have a little time in the plate when you pour the bubbling broth over them.

Total production time: 3 hours
Production time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Calories: 73.94

Ingredients

beef on the bone – 700 g
onions – 1-2 pcs.
ginger root – 2 cm
cloves – 3 pcs.
coriander seeds – 1 tsp.
star anise – 1/2 star
cinnamon – 1 stick
water – approximately 2 l
salt and sugar - to taste
green onions (white part) – 1 bunch.

Ingredients for Pho Bo

beef slice – 200 g
ginger root – 1 cm
salt and pepper - to taste
rice noodles – 300 g
onions – 1 pc.
green onions (trunks) – 1 bunch.
hot pepper – 1 pc.
lime – 1 pc.
parsley or cilantro - 1 bunch.

Manufacturing

Prepare the broth. You can eat only beef bones or take a cut on the bone with pulp, then the broth will be even richer, and the meat can be put on plates later - choose for yourself. So, throw the beef bones into boiling water and bring to a boil over high heat. Drain the first broth immediately after boiling, then change the water and cook over low heat for 2-3 hours (or longer). Don't forget to remove the foam. Add cloves, coriander seeds, cinnamon, anise, onions and ginger to the broth.

In order for the broth to come out with a beautiful color, the onions and ginger must be charred over an open fire or in a dry frying pan. Everything is simple here - we clean them, cut the onions in half and hold them until they turn brown, after which we throw them into the broth. During the cooking process, do not forget to add salt and sugar to taste. The broth should be rich, sweet and salty so that it can impart its own taste and smell to the rice noodles. It should be dark but transparent, have a pronounced taste of meat and the smell of spices.

At the very end, when the broth is one hundred percent ready, add green onions to it - we only need the snow-white part. Boil for almost half a minute so that the onions are not overcooked but remain crispy, remove them from the broth and set aside. We take out the beef, throw away the bones, and cut the flesh into pieces so that it is easy to handle with chopsticks. It is better to strain the broth.

Next, cut the fresh meat into small pieces, add a little salt and grated ginger, and leave for a while while the rest of the ingredients are prepared. We try to cut it thinly, because we will add these pieces to the soup raw before serving and they should be cooked instantly from boiling water. You'll need 6-8 pieces per serving. To make the cutting process easier, you can lightly freeze the meat.

We clean the onions and cut them into thin rings (if they are bitter, you can pour cool water in a bowl for a while), cut the hot pepper thinly, and chop the stems of green onions and parsley (or better yet, cilantro) with a knife.

Boil the rice noodles according to the instructions on the package. We need medium cooked noodles. Soak it in cool water, then put it in boiling water and cook until medium done. We rinse in running water so that the noodles do not stick together and are elastic.

Assembling Pho Bo soup. Place a pile of noodles in a bowl, add pieces of boiled beef, a few pieces of raw slices, a couple of onion rings and finely chopped greens.

Next, pour the soup with hot broth - we try to pour it onto the slices of raw meat, its color should change.

Serve the Vietnamese soup right away, while it’s still hot, adding chili pepper and lime, cut into large slices. Bon appetit!

Vietnamese Pho soup - a fiery hot dish for any day

Pho soup is a classic of Vietnamese cuisine. This dish originated in the beginning of the 20th century in the north of Vietnam and gradually became popular all over the world. Every Vietnamese family prepares pho bo in its own way. But there are also traditional recipes that are used everywhere in restaurants, including abroad.

Pho soup

Pho bo is one of the most popular versions of pho soup and is practically synonymous with it. It consists of a rich meat broth, pho noodles, onions, cilantro, bean sprouts, basil and a huge amount of spices. Chili pepper, star anise, anise, cinnamon, cloves - this is far from a complete set of seasonings for a fragrant soup. Constantly hot and spicy, it not only saturates, but also gives strength for the whole day.

There are the following types of pho:

northern (fo bak);
southern (fo nam).

The southern one has the most sweet and spicy taste, as well as the addition of hoisin sauce. The northern one, on the other hand, is prepared with a small amount of exotic, spicy ingredients.

At the beginning of the last century in Vietnam, pho soup was served by street vendors on special yokes. On one side there was a vessel with beef and noodles, and on the other there was a brazier with coal. Not much has changed since then. Pho bo, as before, is mainly sold on the streets, where the Vietnamese themselves eat it starting at 6 in the morning.

Vietnamese breakfast can take days to cook, and this is not an exaggeration. They cook it in huge pots, because the Vietnamese actually don’t eat at home and buy food mainly in restaurants or street cafes. A plate of state soup costs only 1-3 bucks, which is affordable not only for tourists, but also for the inhabitants of the land of dragons and fairies themselves.

Varieties: pho bo, pho ga, pho ka

phở bò - beef noodle soup
phở gà - chicken soup

The famous pho has a huge number of varieties. Traditional pho bo is consistently made from beef. The broth is poured over boiled or half-raw meat, which is cut into thin slices. Soup with carpaccio poured in boiling water is ordered less often than with ordinary boiled beef. There is also a combined version, which is considered the most delicious.

Another variation - pho ga - is prepared with chicken. Chicken broth cooks even faster than beef broth - in just an hour. The chicken fillet is cooked immediately in the oven, which is later chopped and added to the soup. The rest of the manufacturing recipe is one hundred percent similar. The finished dish is literally seasoned with a huge amount of herbs and hot sauce.

Another type of soup is pho ka. It is made in a classic meat or fish broth, but at the end seafood is certainly added, namely shrimp and octopus. The fish version of pho goes well with lemongrass stems, as well as classic spices: star anise, ginger, cloves, peppercorns. If the soup is made from fish, then the broth is cooked for no more than an hour. Fish pho ca is considered the lowest-calorie of all types of Vietnamese signature dish. It is ordered with pleasure by tourists who are looking for exotic cuisine and have already tried the traditional version - pho bo soup.

Specificity of production and consumption

The main thing in pho soup is, naturally, the ingredients. The meat is selected very painstakingly, because after production it must be soft and easy to cut. Beef is purchased for production (for example, the thigh or muscles of the hind leg of a cattle, as well as brain bones).

Main ingredients of the soup:

beef (350 g);
rice noodles (300 g);
one onion;
ginger root;
a bunch of cilantro, green onions;
bean sprouts (30 g);
lime or lemongrass;
spices (cinnamon, saffron, cloves, 3 star anise, etc.);
fish, spicy and other types of sauces.

Real pho is cooked with the addition of dark cardamom, star anise and, not surprisingly, cinnamon, which add an unusual flavor note to the meat broth. It is believed that pho soup must have at least 5 smells. The more unexpected the combinations, the better. In addition to cinnamon, the Vietnamese boldly throw fennel, hot chili peppers (without seeds), and other oriental seasonings into the broth. They are specially lightly fried without oil, as well as onions and ginger to add flavor and beautiful color.

Rice noodles are bought ready-made. It is called noodle pho or ban pho. If you can buy the freshest noodles, rather than the dry ones sold in hypermarkets, then the taste of the dish may be even better.

Another unexpected ingredient is sugar. It is used for the southern version of pho and added directly to the broth, and in a fairly large volume - up to 50 g. The broth is considered ready when the meat comes off the bone perfectly.

Secrets of serving a dish

The dish is served identically in the north and south of Vietnam. First, boiled rice noodles are placed in a heap on a plate. Onion rings and chopped meat are laid out on it, and then chopped green onions and cilantro. Then everything is poured into a bubbling broth, after which sprouted beans, spices, garlic, fish and other types of sauces are added.

As mentioned above, meat in soup is served in two types: well-cooked and half-raw. In the second case, the meat is first placed in a saucepan and kept in the hot broth for almost a minute. After this, it is placed in the finished soup.

In real pho soup there is not much water - the base of the dish is noodles, which take up a huge part of the plate. The Vietnamese joke that for them this is both the first and second dish at once. This unusual soup is eaten with classic wooden sticks. Most of the water is absorbed into the noodles, and the rest is drunk from the bowl, as from an ordinary cup.

In southern Vietnam, pho bo is constantly added to ripe lime. It is cut into large slices and served separately with the soup. From time to time, a couple of drops of reddish hot sauce are poured into the broth, so that it becomes reddish in color. They eat soup in Vietnam very early - between 6-8 am. The soup is served in large or small bowls, and you can always order more.

Vietnamese pho soup recipe

Preparing pho soup is not difficult, but you need to spend time both searching for ingredients and cooking the meat broth, which takes at least 2-3 hours to prepare.

Having purchased the products, we begin production:

Step 1. Prepare meat broth. Place beef bones in boiling water and cook over medium heat. The first broth is combined after boiling. Then the water is changed, the bones are washed, soft beef is added, which will be cut later into the finished soup.

Step 2. Boil the pho noodles according to the recipe on the package. Next, rinse it in plenty of running water. If you wash it poorly, the noodles will start to stick together and ruin the whole dish.

Step 3. Cut the onion into rings and fill with water. We also finely chop the green onions and thinly slice the beef (if you plan to add scalded meat to the soup). Add cilantro, mint, basil, reddish chili (without seeds).

Step 4. Place the noodles in a bowl . Add onion and all chopped ingredients.

Step 5. Fill everything with bubbling meat broth. Add bean sprouts, onions, herbs to taste, fish sauce. You can sprinkle the finished soup with lime.

The cooking time for the broth is different for each housewife, but the longer the meat is cooked over low heat, the better. Hidden ingredients in this step: roasted ginger, licorice root, anise. You can also add a couple of spoons of fish sauce to the broth itself, which has a rather specific taste.

Useful tips for making pho

The Vietnamese have their own secrets for making soup.

Pho noodles, for example, are cooked in bubbling water only until medium done. Later it is washed in hot and cool water so that it becomes elastic and shiny.
To make soup, onions are not fried in oil, as is customary in Russia. The onion is cut into two halves and kept on the grill for a minute, and later, charred, dropped into the broth. Oil is not used at all - this is the rule for making Vietnamese soup.
In order for the carpaccio to come out perfect, it is practically turned into minced meat, smeared on a cutting board. Thanks to this, the meat immediately changes color as it enters the bubbling broth.

Each country has its own specificity for making pho. For example, in France it is made with meatballs, and in the USA (the United States of America is a state in North America) - with chicken. In Russia, instead of rice noodles, they sometimes use regular noodles, and in Thailand, shrimp are often added to the prepared broth. To decide which option is best for you, you need to cook pho at least once without the help of others.

Gourmet reviews

Pho soup is one of the most sold national dishes in the world. The most delicious pho soup, according to gourmet reviews, consists of two types of meat - boiled and half-raw (only scalded with broth). The soup with the addition of tiger shrimps, which add an extraordinary taste to the dish, and Thai basil, is also highly valued.

You can experience the most delicious pho soup in Nha Trang at Yen's Restaurant, Pho Hong Giang, Pho 10 in Hanoi, and in almost all other places. The national dish is served in any cafe, and finding it is not difficult. If you want to experience real pho, which the Vietnamese themselves value, then look for small restaurants, and ideally neighborhoods where soup is poured right on the street.

How to cook pho bo in your kitchen

The iconic Vietnamese soup (the Vietnamese themselves insist that it is noodles) is now known throughout the world and is considered almost the main state dish. The history of pho bo is currently only 140 years old, but the origins are no less vague than in the Roman chronicles. The emergence of pho bo dates back to 1887 - the unification of Vietnam under French rule and the name French Indochina. The French made Hanoi the capital of the colony and it is believed that pho bo originated from there.

The name itself is associated with the famous French dish pot au feu - a thick and rich stew made with beef broth. The French words “pot” and “fe” were transformed when borrowed into “fo” and “bo”. The very idea of eating large horned cattle was not close to the Vietnamese peasants - water buffalos were used as arable and draft animals; eating them came to mind no more than the Central Russian peasant would eat a tractor. With the arrival of the French, the number of common European cattle increased, the French ate them, the indigenous population received horns and legs from the master's table, from which, in fact, they cook pho bo.

Chinese cuisine, which by that time had thoroughly advanced to Vietnam, also had a significant impact on the recipe for pho bo. And the rice noodles themselves, and the “5 spices”, and hoisin sauce are from China.

Ingredients for pho bo

And ingredients for pho bo

Let's start with the main ingredients. The main thing in pho is, of course, beef . The broth is cooked in approximately the same way as our jelly, only not from hooves, but from shanks. Beautiful beef shanks are sold in the markets, however, you will have to purchase the whole product, it is about three kilos, but ask the butcher to cut it into three parts so that it fits into the pan and is better boiled from the bones. It would be great to cut the upper part lengthwise as well. It can also be cooked from marrow bones alone. If a shank costs you 180 rubles, you can get bones for practically nothing. But the shank is much tastier.

Noodles – rice noodles Bahn Pho (ban pho), also known as Thai chantaboon. Noodles can be purchased in most large hypermarkets in the Asian goods departments, or you can go to special Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese stores, no question. These are rice noodles, originally square in cross-section or flat. The best outcome is with the freshest noodles, but you will have to look for them.

The meat for serving is a good beef fillet, cut into very thin slices, like carpaccio. The amount per serving is quite small, so you can allow yourself to cut it directly.

Root vegetables - ordinary yellow onions and ginger. The onions must be cut in half, the ginger root must be crushed with a rolling pin or pestle and fried until black in a dry metal frying pan or directly on the burner. Don't be shy, it just adds flavor and improves the color.

Spices – star anise, cloves and cinnamon, whole. You can use a ready-made Chinese 5-spice mixture, but this is unsporting.

Salt and sugar - ordinary salt, sugar - yellow unrefined crystalline. If you're short on money, take Demerara sand.

For serving - soybean sprouts or mung bean, thinly sliced onion and washed with cool water, green onions, hot peppers (bird's eye), fresh cilantro, lime wedges.

Manufacturing development

Cook the shank in a large saucepan over high heat.

Wash chopped beef shanks (or marrow bones with the addition of beef like goulash - 2.5 - 3 kg of bones per pound of meat), pour 5-6 liters into a large saucepan. water and cook over high heat with the lid on. As soon as it boils, stir well for a few minutes so that a rich foam rises and pour into a large colander or simply into the sink, rinse with warm water. Rinse the pan from scale, return the bones and meat, fill it with cool water again and let it cook completely.

Frying onions and ginger

Two large onions (300 g), without peeling, and 10 cm of ginger root, burn over a fire until black or fry in a dry frying pan. Remove the top layer of onion skins and the more burnt parts of the ginger root. Crush the ginger with a rolling pin or fist. Add to broth.

Salt the broth with about one and a half tablespoons of salt. Continue cooking for one and a half to two hours over very low heat until the meat is soft enough to chew. Remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and cover it with cool water in a bowl to prevent it from darkening. Add spices - 5 star anise, 6 clove buds, 10 cm cinnamon. Continue cooking the broth for another hour and a half until the bones are cooked.

Strain the broth

Strain the broth through a colander into another bowl. Discard the roots and spices, let the bones cool slightly and shake out the bone marrow (the central part of the nervous system of animals, usually located in the head of the body and which is a compact accumulation of nerve cells and their processes) and separate the tendons, add to the boiled meat.

Taste the broth for salt. Add 4 tbsp one at a time. fish sauce, tasting each time, and 30 g of yellow sugar. The broth should have an intense flavor and be slightly salted. It is best to prepare the broth the day before, then after cooling in the refrigerator you simply skim off the crust of congealed fat on top. Or remove the fat with cardboard napkins.

There is such a trick - add Chinese hoisin sauce to the broth, this increases the richness of the taste and improves the color. But still, this is cutting corners; it is better to achieve the same on your own.

Soak the noodles in a bowl with hot water for 15 minutes or follow the directions on the package. Wash and leave in cool water.

Blanch the soy sprouts in boiling water.

Tear off the leaves from the cilantro sprigs, cut the green onions and pepper into thin rings. Cut 2-3 limes into slices.

Slice frozen beef fillet

Lightly freeze beef fillet (approximately 250 g) and cut into very thin slices with a huge knife.

Cut the meat from the broth and tendons into small pieces.

Before final assembly, you must have all these ingredients ready and at the right temperature.

Boil three liters of water in a saucepan and take a small mesh colander. Place a saucepan with broth on the fire.

Place bowls on the table (usually 750 ml).

Dip noodles in a colander in boiling water

Place a portion of noodles in a colander (it should take up from a quarter to a third of the bowl’s volume) and dip in boiling water for 15-20 seconds. Place the fried noodles into bowls. On top place chopped meat, tendons and bone marrow (the central part of the nervous system of animals, usually located in the head part of the body and representing a compact accumulation of nerve cells and their processes) , a handful of soybean sprouts, slightly chopped onions, put slices of raw fillet on top .

Ready pho bo

Ladle the bubbling broth into bowls. Sprinkle green onions, hot peppers and cilantro leaves on top, and add a wedge of lime. For those who wish, serve soy sauce and chili oil.

Don't let the pho bo get cold! Eat quickly and sparingly.