Chicken Pho Therapy

Safe to say that despite my efforts at having a relatively healthy week, my plans were scuppered by a few things.

1. Clandestine Cake Club - I only ate a little bit of cake, honest!!
2. Dinner and wine with friends.
3. Barbecue

By Sunday I needed something, light and cleansing - something that as you eat, you can immediately feel that it's doing you some good. At times like these, for me, I rely on one thing - a chicken noodle soup.

But this isn't any old chicken soup, this is a pho ga, a Vietnamese chicken noodle dish, which does take time to make, but the results are wonderful. A light, clear broth which is carefully spiced but with a nice kick of chilli from the nuoc cham (a "dipping sauce" which is drizzled over the top of the dish.) This dish does take time to make, but best things comes to those and all that!

This recipe is adapted from Rick Stein's Eastern Odyssey and whilst I'm sure it's not 100% authentic, it's tasty as! I feel healthier by just looking at it!

Hanoi chicken noodle soup with bok choi (Pho Ga)

Adapted from Rick Stein (Serves 4-6)

Ingredients

1.5 kg whole chicken

A thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

1 onion, halved

5 cloves garlic, sliced 

10 cm cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

1 tbsp light soy sauce

3 large pak choi 

400 g 1 cm-wide flat rice noodles 

4 tbsp fish sauce

To Serve

8-10 spring onions, chopped (I didn't have any so finely shredded a red onion)

A handful of coriander, leaves picked

A sprig of mint, leaves picked and roughly chopped

Lime wedges

Nuoc Cham (See recipe below)

Nuoc Cham

1-2 long red chillies, roughly chopped (feel free to deseed if you don't want too much heat!)

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

1/2 inch of ginger, finely chopped

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp water

Stir all of the ingredients above in a bowl until the sugar dissolves. This will keep for about a week in the fridge.

Method

Put the chicken, ginger, onion halves, garlic, cinnamon, salt and peppercorns into a deep pan in which the chicken fits quite snugly. Cover with 2 litres of water. Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum as it rises. Lower the heat, cover and leave to gently simmer for 20-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the chicken and stock to cool for 40-60 minutes.

Separate the stalks from the leaves of the bok choi and finely shred them lengthways. Cut the leaves across into 3 cm-wide pieces. 

Lift the cooled chicken onto a plate and leave to cool. Drain the stock through a seive into a clean pan. Skin the chicken, pull the meat from the bones and break it into chunky pieces.

Bring a pan of unsalted water to the boil. Add the noodles, turn off the heat, cover and leave to soak for 10 min or until tender.

Bring the stock back to the boil, add the pak choi stalks and simmer for 2 min, then add the leaves and cook for a further 2 min. Then stir in the fish sauce.

Drain the noodles and divide among bowls. Top with cooked chicken, spring onions (or red onion) coriander and mint leaves. Ladle the steaming hot broth and bok choi over the top and spoon over the nuoc cham, and additional lime wedges on the side.

Feel cleansed and relaxed!

I'll Beetroot-ful, this soup is delicious!

Yes, another post, another bad pun. I'll see if I can keep this going, but I'll try. I won't be beet-en!

Ok, so beetroot. I hated beetroot as a kid. As someone raised mainly on a Chinese diet as a child, and having never seen a beetroot in my whole life, I have memories of "Salad Day" at my primary school, at the age of 6 and being forced to eat this disgusting purple stuff that was cold, flabby and soaked in vinegar. I think a lot of people have had similar experiences which is probably why a lot of people don't like it. 

Past experiences were enough to put me off beetroot for life but my stance was turned around after trying honey glazed roasted beetroot a number of years ago and I was converted. Now I can't get enough of the stuff and sometimes I do even treat myself to the pickled variety, but only sometimes.

There was a massive glut of beetroot at my local farm shop and ended up buying a couple of kilos in order to make this fantastic soup that was served up at my friend Dan's murder mystery party the other week. I found myself making this at 6.30am on a Wednesday morning after not being able to get back to sleep....

The recipe kind of a Middle Eastern take on the classic Russian borscht and can be eaten hot or cold. I had it hot for lunch one day and then chilled the next. They were both delicious but there was something about the chilled version, really refreshing and perfect for a warm day.

I have adapted the Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe slightly and added a touch of ginger for warmth and instead of the spiced yoghurt he suggests, I opted for soured cream as a nod to its Eastern European roots. 

This is a really quick, really easy soup to make, plus it's the most amazing colour that really cheers you up. Suffice to say I love garish colours, so this soup is perfect for me, really beet-iful! (yes yes I know!!)

Beetroot and Cumin Soup 

Ingredients

50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 fat clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 thumb sized piece of ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
750g beetroot, peeled and cut into small chunks
750ml vegetable or chicken stock (or water)
Salt and ground black pepper
1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Get a large pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil to the pan and then add in the onion, garlic, ginger and cumin and cook gently for five to 10 minutes, until the onion, ginger and garlic are soft but try not to colour them too much.

Add the beetroot chunks, stir everything around then add the stock. Bring to a simmer, stick on a lid and cook for around 20-25 minutes, until the beetroot is tender.

Blend up the soup, return it to the pan and season to taste. If it seems too thick, thin it down with a little more stock or water to get it to the right consistency.

Serve the soup, hot or chilled, with a dollop of soured cream swirled in just before serving and some parsley sprinkled on top.

Beets me how a soup can be so simple and so good!