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!
- 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
- Remove the chicken breast from the chicken and set aside. Cut the remaining chicken up by separating the thighs, feet, wings and neck.
- 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.
- Allow the onion and ginger to cool down slightly before removing the charred portions. Set aside.
- 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.
- Set the Instant Pot to saute mode.
- 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.
- Fill the pot with 2 litres of water.
- Add in the spice bag, ginger, onion, coriander stems and chicken parts (except the breast).
- Set the Instant Pot to High Pressure, and set the timer for 25 minutes.
- When the timer beeps, allow it to release pressure naturally for about 10 minutes, before carefully de-pressurising the pot.
- 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.
- Add in the chicken breasts, fish sauce and sugar. Set the IP to High Pressure for another 10 minutes.
- Rehydrate the pho noodles according to instructions.
- When the pot beeps, allow it to release pressure naturally for about 7-10 minutes before carefully depressurising the pot.
- Add in salt and pepper to taste. (I added in 1 - 2 tsp of salt)
- Remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat. Remove all the other ingredients from the pot.
- Add some pho noodles to a bowl.
- Top the noodles with some bean sprouts.
- Ladle the clear broth over the noodles.
- Top with shredded chicken meat, cilantro leaves, lime and birds eye chilli, if desired.
- Serve hot.
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