Vietnamese Pho Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup

Having been to Vietnam, I've tasted the crème de la crème of phos (Vietnamese: phở pronounced [fəː˧˩˧] listen). It is a classic street dish which I ate regularly whilst on my travels there, even for breakfast. It was a complete delight, consisting of rice noodles, broth, vegetables and meat. There were plenty of variants; it depended on the chef, but the purists would claim it has to consist of white rice noodles (the dishes I ate were made with a thinner version of shahe fen), a clear beef broth, finely sliced beef and a few herbs. I've seen the Vietnamese create this dish by placing all the raw ingredients into the bowl and pouring the scorching hot broth over, which essentially cooks the finely sliced raw meat and blanches any vegetables ensuring pure fresh components to the dish without overcooking, an incredible experience which will stay with me forever. If you ever get out to Vietnam, it would be a crime to leave the country without eating a bowl of pho.

This dish is inspired by what I ate, but I will say now I do not believe it is Vietnamese, it is just a take on the variations I ate on my travels with what ingredients I had on the day I made it - it varies each time I make it. This recipe can be adjusted to whatever you have in the fridge, or prefer, it is possibly for want of a better way to describe it the best chicken noodle soup you could ever have if you were also nursing a cold.

Vietnamese Pho Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup

Serves 2 (easily increased)

Ingredients

1 litre of homemade chicken stock
2 nests of noodles - egg is used above, rice if you have it
1 large chicken breast - sliced into thin strips
1 red chilli - finely grated and a few slices for garnish
2 large garlic cloves - finely grated
1 tbsp fresh ginger - finely grated
zest and juice of 1/2 a lime
2 spring onions - julienned
6 pak choi leaves - split into sizable pieces (can substitute with little gem or cos lettuce leaves)
2 eggs
1 tbsp groundnut oil

Note - Experimentation! Give everything a go! You can use a variety of vegetables to bulk this out if you wish; finely sliced carrots, mange tout, sugar snap peas etc, the eggs can be optional, adapt the main ingredients to what you enjoy/have, though you must have the noodles, chilli, garlic and ginger. You can also omit the meat altogether and use vegetable stock to make it vegetarian. Read through the recipe first and it is best to prepare everything before cooking because it comes together very quickly, not really time to prep and cook at same time. 

Method

1. Heat your stock until hot but don't boil it. Marinate your chicken strips in the chilli, garlic, ginger, lime zest and juice. Meanwhile prepare your vegetables and whisk your eggs in a mug and season well.

2. Heat a wok very hot, add your groundnut oil and fry your chicken strips quickly, they will be cooked through in less than a minute (you will be pouring scorching hot stock over them later which will definitely cook them through more if you are worried - what you don't want is tough dry chicken). Once fried set aside.

3. Cook your noodles following package instructions. Meanwhile, fry your vegetables for 30-60 seconds and set aside.

4. Add your whisked egg to the wok and tilt around to make an "omelette" shape, cook through and then chop up with your spatula to make large chunky scrambled eggs. Basically you don't want tiny bits of egg, you're aiming for big chunks/strips. Set aside.

5. Place all your ingredients back into the wok and toss together to evenly distribute them within the noodles. Serve evenly into bowls and pour your scorching hot stock over it all, garnish with julienned spring onion and fresh chilli slices.

Enjoy experimenting!

Jacob