about to share with you one of my favourite noodle dishes called Pho Ga, Pho Ga is chicken
noodle soup this is actually a national dish from vietnam it’s a great dish because it’s
ever so simple to make yet you’ve got the full flavour of the chicken you’ve got the
spices that go with it and the herbs on top it’s really healthy and it tastes great ok
so I’m gonna start today with roasting the spices this is to bring out the fragrant flavours
so when you put it in the broth it just spreads out evenly, I’m going to be using the star
anise so just about 5 stars and then about a teaspoon of coriander seeds now today I’m
cooking a portion for between 4 to 6 people so that should be enough now I just want you
to lightly toast this about a minute or two as soon as you can smell the aroma lower the
heat and you can take it off now onto the really exciting bit this is my favourite part
of making the broth I’m going to roast the onions and about 20 grams of ginger so I’m
going to use the open fire now the whole point of doing this is that you’re actually trying
to keep the flavours inside to bring out the flavours slowly when we’re putting it in the
broth it’s ok if it’s going all black a trick to know when it’s ready is you should see
the juice coming out from the ends I’m gonna start on the ginger it smells really good
ok so the next stage is actually to clean them but I want to show you a tip that I use
to peel the ginger, use a spoon and you can just scrape off the skin with the onion just
cut the ends off take the first layer of skin off it smells incredible already give that
a good rinse put it to one side and we start prepping the chicken very simple just a quick
cleaning if you look for the legs here we don’t want that so look for the knuckle and
you’re going right in the middle there where the joint is take that off for me this dish
is healthy I take as much of the fat off as I can now from the top here you just split
it don’t open the whole chicken though we want to keep it still nice and neat when it’s
cooking place the chicken into a pan of boiling water so for this portion you use three litres
of water the chicken’s over there on high heat I want you to lower the heat in a few
minutes but whilst we’re waiting we’re gonna prep the vegetables the main vegetable is
the daikon it’s also known as a mooli or a Chinese radish I believe that this is the
secret to actually making the broth really clear if you can’t get hold of it feel free
to use a swede that’s just as sweet and just as good use about one span of daikon and that
should be enough and peel off the skin I’m going to half it just so that it would fit
in the pot put it in the broth with the ginger that we roasted earlier and the two onions
so at this point start lowering the heat now the heat is lower I’m going to take away the
foam on top by doing this you’re actually taking away the fat from the skin of the chicken
out of the broth and if you look the broth is really clear and that’s what you wanted
to do ok now I’m going to put the spices we roasted earlier in I’m using a herb strainer
a tea strainer works well as well put the 5 star anise in here and the coriander seeds
ok so I’m going to put it in here make sure it sits right at the bottom of the chicken
leave it in for about half an hour and then take it out and that’s it all the hard work
is over so I’m going to leave that to simmer on low heat for this size of chicken it’s
1.5 kilos an hour would be good so whilst we’re waiting for the broth to cook I want
to start on preparing the noodles I’m using here some rice noodles it’s called bánh phở
noodles and the secret to this is to soak it over night so I’ve done that and as you
can see it’s all fluffy and it’s all ready to cook when you actually boil it now it takes
about 2-3 minutes you can see the change in colour 2-3 minutes is enough ok so the wait
is nearly over it’s been an hour so now I’m going to take the onions and the daikon out
I’m gonna take out the chicken look at this juicy it’s good to leave the chicken to rest
for about half an hour when it’s cooled down it’s actually easier to tear the broth is
all ready for seasoning it still has another half an hour to go I love this, this is fermented
fish sauce you can find that in most supermarkets I’m going to put just under a teaspoon it’s
not Vietnamese unless you have fish sauce ok so I’ve got here rock sugar now feel free
to use normal sugar that’s absolutely fine traditionally though I do prefer to use this
one the sweetness of it is more subtle I think it looks really pretty ok I’m gonna use this
much this looks like it’s gonna be about 6 grams which is just over a teaspoon this is
gonna help balance out the fish sauce and some salt I’ve got half a teaspoon for the
last part of the seasoning I’m adding a good handful of peeled shallots ok so after seasoning
keep cleaning, the goal of this broth is always to keep it as clear as possible yet so much
flavour look at that that’s beautiful half an hour and we’re good to eat so for this
dish to be authentic there are certain finishing touches on top like bean sprouts lime and
the chili just about two slices is good and you must have coriander it’s fantastic it
smells really great I love it but I prefer taking just the stems you don’t need too much
now with the spring onions I like using the top so we can turn them into curls, so the
trick is to slice them really thin like that if you soak them into cold water for 5 minutes,
take it out and then turn into curls like that when you’re dressing it gives volume
at it looks great take the white part just a little bit the other important herb that
I think really makes the dish is the sweet basil here now this is also known as Vietnamese basil
or Thai basil it adds a kick to the chicken when you eat it right at the end and that’s
it we’re ready to go at the bottom of the bowl put the bean sprouts a handful of the
noodles ok that’s a full bowl the chicken has now cooled down the best part is the leg
just tear it plate it around the bowl like that can you see it tearing off this is wonderful
bit of the breast chicken is good too it’s amazing right this really is delicious ok
so now I’ve got it all placed there I’m going to sprinkle the herbs on top ok I’m gonna
bring the broth over so here are the yummy shallots I had earlier the onion strings so
I’ll put a whole load on I think it’s really important to eat something pretty I don’t
know whether it’s true with you but I often eat with my eyes way before I get to eat the
dish the chili’s there don’t forget to squeeze the lime this will balance out the dish so
I’ve got dried shallots here you can buy them ready made I like to sprinkle them on top
ok so this is it this is my pho ga my Vietnamese chicken noodle soup it’s really healthy it’s
great for you it’s so fresh so yeah healthy food doesn’t have to be boring all the ingredients
that I’ve used you can see they’re fresh herbs that you can just grab from the supermarket
so do go ahead and try and make it and if you enjoyed the video today do give me a thumbs
up that would be really nice and subscribe to Food Tube below if you want to see more
of my work I do have an Instagram page or a Facebook page and if you’re ever in London
and you really want to taste it for real come to the little Viet kitchen and I’ll make you
a bowl thank you for watching see you soon bye bye!
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