Chicken pho

Chicken pho

Immune-boosting, nutrient dense and anti-inflammatory, broths are full of nutrition and excellent for skin, digestion and inflammation. If you've always wanted to make delicious pho but weren't sure where to begin this is the recipe for you. There's still a little prep involved but this is a quick and tasty version of the traditional Vietnamese recipe. 

Soup ingredients  

2 kg Ethical Farmers chicken bones or 1.4kg+ whole chicken

3 cloves garlic 

2 x 5cm pieces ginger cut into thick slices  

2 large onion halved, skin on 

1 cinnamon stick

2 cardamom pods 

2 star anise 

3 cloves 

¼ cup coriander seeds 

3 tbsp fennel seeds

5L filtered water 

1/3 cup fish sauce 

3 tbsp honey 

Salt & pepper to season

400g rice noodles 

Garnish ingredients

Shredded chicken meat

½ bunch coriander 

½ bunch Thai basil 

½ bunch Vietnamese mint 

½ packet beans sprouts 

2 chillies 

1 small white onion 

½ cup white vinegar 

½ tsp honey 

Salt 

Method 

1. Put the whole chicken or bones in a pot and fill it with water until it covers the chook/bones. Bring to a boil and keep boiling for 2 min, then discard the water in the sink and rinse the chook. This process cleans the chicken/bones and removes any impurities from your soup. Now we are ready to start our soup.
2. Char the onion and ginger flesh side down in a hot pan or over a gas flame until nice and charred, about a min then set aside. 
3. Toast all your spices in a pan on medium heat this will take about 5 minutes, make sure to move the spices around in the pan to avoid burning (they should smell lovely and fragrant, not burnt).
4. Put the spices, charred onion, ginger and the chook in a pot and fill with filtered water. Bring to a slow simmer. Cook the soup for at least 2 hours.
5. While the soup is cooking prepare your fresh herb garnish. First start by slicing the chillies and white onion and adding that to the white vinegar and honey mix. Set aside in the fridge. Pick all your herbs and set aside.
6. Once the broth has finished cooking, remove the chicken/bones and strain the broth discarding the vegetables and spices bit saving all the liquid broth.
7. Shred the meat off the bird or bones and set aside. Season the soup with fish sauce, honey, salt and pepper adjust the seasoning to your taste. 
8. Cook your noodles to packet specifications, drain and place into a bowls to serve. 
9. Top with shredded chicken, broth and herbs to garnish. Add as much chilli & onion vinegar as you like.