4 servings; 10 min preparation; 40 min cooking time.

This is by far one of the best soups I’ve tried, so I totally understand why Vietnamese people eat it all day long. The depth of the chicken broth is just amazing!

You might think that creating typical Asian flavors at home is an impossible task, but I can promise you quite the opposite. The reason why Asian dishes taste so good is that they cook everything from scratch and put a lot of attention on the depth of the flavor. Well, we can create similar flavors with a little bit less cooking time and a little bit of help here and there.

If you have the time, cook the soup in a slow cooker for four hours. No doubt that it will taste great. Unfortunately not everyone has four hours to cook, so I reduced the time to under an hour. I was very happy with the result. The soup was warm, comforting and so full of flavor! Just make sure that use are using the right chicken stock. Use the best quality low sodium stock you can find and you will be amazed of the taste of the soup.

Ingredients

for the broth:

• 400 g chicken pieces, with bones
• 1,5 liter chicken stock, low sodium
• 1 onion, whole
• 2 shallots
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, sliced
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp black pepper seeds
• 4 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 kaffir leaves
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 lime, juice

• 100 g uncooked rice noodles of your choice

to assemble:

• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1 jalapeño
• 1 red chili pepper
• 2 limes, wedges
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Preparation

Broth: Heat the chicken stock over medium heat. Add the sugar and chicken pieces. It’s better if you use chicken with bones. Add the whole onion and cover with the lid. Let it cook for 10 min. Remove any skim so that the broth stay clear.

Spices: Heat a clean cooking pan without oil over medium heat. Add the shallots, ginger and dry spices (cinnamon, cloves, coriander and black pepper seeds). Cook until the spices get color and start releasing their aromas. Of they are ready, put the spices into a tea-holder and add them to chicken pan. Add the shallots as well.

Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15 more minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan, but don’t take the pan from the heat. Debone the chicken and set aside. Mince the kaffir leaves fine and add them to the broth. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and keep the broth simmering.

Noodles: Heat water over medium heat and bring to the boil. Cook the rice noodles according to the instructions of the package.

Assemble the soup: Slice the jalapeño and red chili pepper fine. Chop the cilantro roughly. Put cooked noodles in a soup bowl. Add chicken slices, lime wedges, bean sprouts and slices chili peppers. Pour the clear broth over the chicken. Enjoy!