November 8, 2016

Instant Pot Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Pho)

Pho Ga

Hubby and I just returned from Hanoi, Vietnam about a week ago. It was the first time since the kids were born that we had the opportunity to take a solo trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it. One of our highlights was the cooking lessons from Apron Up. I promised them that I’d blog about them so look out for the next blog post on that happening, sometime this week hopefully. Anyway, one of the dishes that we learnt was Pho Bo, or Beef Pho. Both Pho Bo and Pho Ga are popular Vietnamese breakfast dishes, and both involved simmering the soup broth for long hours. Long hours? That seems like a dish to try to re-make with the Instant Pot! And that was just what I tried to do this past weekend – making Pho Ga, or Chicken Pho, with the Instant Pot. I applied some of the techniques that I learnt from making Pho Bo in the making of Pho Ga.

Before I share the recipe, here are some quick tips:

  • This recipe requires the use of either a grill or oven to broil and char the onion and the ginger. I’d suppose it’s possible to omit this step and just attempt to brown the onion and the ginger with the rest of the herbs but the depth of flavour of the broth would be compromised.
  • It is absolutely essential to parboil the chicken bones to remove the scum. This step is the key to yielding a clear broth.

Here’s the simple recipe. Enjoy!

Instant Pot Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Pho)
 
Print
Author:
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Serves: Serves 4
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1 large red onion, cut in quarters
  • 3-inch piece of ginger
  • 2 star anise
  • 5 cloves
  • 2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 2 litres of water
  • 1 bunch of coriander/cilantro stems, tied with cooking string (about 6 would suffice)
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Pho noodles, rehydrated
  • 1 lime, quartered
  • Beans sprouts, washed and tails removed
  • Coriander leaves
  • Birds eye chilli
Instructions
  1. Remove the chicken breast from the chicken and set aside. Cut the remaining chicken up by separating the thighs, feet, wings and neck.
  2. Broil the onion sections and ginger in the oven till slightly charred. Turn the sections frequently to ensure even browning. The ginger and onion should become slightly soft.
  3. Allow the onion and ginger to cool down slightly before removing the charred portions. Set aside.
  4. Place the chicken parts (except the breast meat) into a large bowl. Pour enough boiling water into the bowl to cover the chicken parts. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. Rinse the scum off the chicken parts and set aside.
  5. Set the Instant Pot to saute mode.
  6. Add the star anise, cloves and coriander seeds to the pot and toast the spices till fragrant (5 minutes). Add the spices into a spice bag.
  7. Fill the pot with 2 litres of water.
  8. Add in the spice bag, ginger, onion, coriander stems and chicken parts (except the breast).
  9. Set the Instant Pot to High Pressure, and set the timer for 25 minutes.
  10. When the timer beeps, allow it to release pressure naturally for about 10 minutes, before carefully de-pressurising the pot.
  11. Open the pot and remove the scum, if any, from the surface of the broth. Remove the chicken legs. Shred the meat off the chicken legs and return the bones to the pot.
  12. Add in the chicken breasts, fish sauce and sugar. Set the IP to High Pressure for another 10 minutes.
  13. Rehydrate the pho noodles according to instructions.
  14. When the pot beeps, allow it to release pressure naturally for about 7-10 minutes before carefully depressurising the pot.
  15. Add in salt and pepper to taste. (I added in 1 - 2 tsp of salt)
  16. Remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat. Remove all the other ingredients from the pot.
Assembling the pho bowls
  1. Add some pho noodles to a bowl.
  2. Top the noodles with some bean sprouts.
  3. Ladle the clear broth over the noodles.
  4. Top with shredded chicken meat, cilantro leaves, lime and birds eye chilli, if desired.
  5. Serve hot.

 

Filed Under: Asian Dishes, Baking and Cooking, Instant Pot, Rice, Noodles and Pasta Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment
July 24, 2016

Instant Pot Beer Braised Pulled Pork

Instant Pot Beer braised pulled pork

After a few crazy months of renovations and managing the house move, it’s finally over and I can START COOKING! The biggest addition to the new kitchen is the Instant Pot. My friend, who blogs at Still Feeling Peckish, a low carb blog, raved about the pot on her facebook page and I was sold. I happened to be in the US, and so I crazily lugged one back to Singapore, thinking that I could use my existing transformer. Unfortunately, the transformer started smoking and we realised that we had rather “cleverly” used a 250W transformer on a 1000W pot. Thank goodness no one was harmed and the new house remained intact. Found someone selling a brand new 3000W transformer (yes, overkill I know) on Carousell for a good price, bought it and I CAN FINALLY USE MY POT!!!

The first thing I made after the water test was some garlic lemon chicken, but they were not blog worthy enough. The second thing I made, to feed my super hungry CG mates (11 adults who can eat like 20 adults) were these pulled pork burgers. And mind you, these are not your ordinary pulled pork burgers. The pork was cooked in Irish Ale (a dark beer would do as well). They are absolutely delish, and the best part, the pulled pork took under an hour and a half to prepare. Can you imagine? Melt in your mouth goodness in just an hour and a half? I love the instant pot!

If you are reading this post, all you want is probably the recipe, and so I’ll stop raving about the burgers and just give you the recipe. Try it. You’d be amazed too.

Instant Pot Beer Braised Pulled Pork
 
Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp salt (use more if your cajun rub doesn't include salt)
  • ½ tsp ground black pepper
  • 3 tbsp cajun seasoning (I use NOMU's)
  • 1.8kg (4 lbs) pork shoulder butt (cut into 400g slabs)
  • 5 cloves of garlic, smashed with skins on
  • 1 cup of good ale or dark beer
  • ½ cup ketchup
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp Dijon mustard (I didn't use it though)
Instructions
To make pulled pork
  1. Combine salt, pepper and cajun seasoning
  2. Rub it all over the pork pieces.
  3. Wrap it up in cling wrap and allow it to sit in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
  4. Set the Instant Pot (IP) to saute mode.
  5. Brown each pork piece and set aside.
  6. Click cancel, and select the manual mode on the IP and set the timer to 45 min.
  7. Place the pork pieces back into the pot, and scatter the garlic around it.
  8. Pour in the ale/beer.
  9. When the timer is up, allow the pot to release pressure naturally for about 15 min.
  10. Remove the pieces of pork carefully and set aside.
  11. Set pot on saute mode. Add ketchup, brown sugar and Worchestershire sauce. Stir and allow it to reduce slightly.
  12. Meanwhile, pull the pork with two forks. Add some of the reduced sauce to the pork and mix.
  13. Thicken the remaining sauce in the pot by mixing two tbsp of cornstarch with some water, and adding the cornstarch mixture to the sauce. Let it boil and slowly thicken. When you reach your required consistency, turn off the pot and pour out the BBQ-beer sauce.
To-assemble
  1. Toast some burger buns, pile on the pulled pork, drizzle the thickened sauce over and top the pork with some slaw. Tuck in!
Notes
Adapted from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/beer-braised-bbq-pork-butt-recipe.html

 

Filed Under: Instant Pot, Meats and Seafood Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment