Now that I live in Baltimore, the pho craze is just starting to grow around here but none of the restaurants I've tried have really hit the spot. Recently, I started looking up recipes and saw what my mom meant when she said it was time consuming: first, you have to roast an onion and a piece of ginger over an open flame until it's charred, and you also have to toast all the spices (including coriander seeds, star anise, and cinnamon) in a hot pan. Then you parboil the bones, throw away the water with the impurities, and simmer the bones again with the onion and ginger and spices for several hours. I started thinking, wouldn't it be easier to make it in the slow cooker? My mom agreed it was probably feasible and basically said "Let me know how it goes, good luck!"
Ingredients:
1 cut-up organic chicken (I used a pack of bone-in breasts and drumsticks)
1 Pho Pasteur spice bag
1 white or yellow onion
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled
1 package of rice noodles (banh pho)
Toppings as desired: hoisin sauce, Sriracha, mung bean sprouts, mint, thai basil, lime, sliced green onions, thinly sliced white onion
Ginger dipping sauce (optional)
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup of water (my fish sauce was super strong, you may not need this much water)
2 tsp of lime juice
Thai chiles (optional)
Directions for broth and meat:
1. Cover chicken with water in a stockpot and bring to a rolling boil for about 5 minutes to allow impurities and foam to form at the top. Remove chicken and discard this water.
2. While waiting for the chicken to cool a little, cut the onion in half and char each side over an open flame such as a gas stove or grill. Repeat with piece of ginger.
3. The chicken should have at least partially cooked, enough to cut it off the bones. Cover chicken meat with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for later. Remove bones and place in a crockpot, then cover with water and add spice packet and grilled onion and ginger. Cook on low at least 8 hours or overnight.
4. Discard onion, spice bag, and chicken bones. If you have a lot of patience, you can cool the broth afterwards and put it in the fridge overnight to be able to skim the fat off the top. I didn't.
5. Add fish sauce and salt to the broth to taste. I saved this until the end because I didn't want my whole house to smell like fish sauce! You'll thank me later for this.
6. Transfer broth to a large stockpot on the stove and heat to a simmer. Drop in the chicken meat to poach in the broth for about 20-25 minutes or until cooked through. Remove meat from pot and slice when cooled.
Directions for dipping sauce (if using):
1. Combine ingredients for dipping sauce in a small tupperware or jar and refrigerate at least 1 hour to let flavors develop.
Directions for noodles:
1. Fill a large pot with hot (NOT boiling) water and soak rice noodle package according to instructions, usually 8-10 minutes or until pliable but not completely soft.
2. Drain water from noodles, then fill pot again and this time bring water to a rolling boil. Once water is boiling, drop the noodles in for literally less than 10 seconds, then drain or remove noodles and rinse in cold water. This cooks them but keeps them from getting mushy when you add broth!
Assembly:
1. Place noodles in a bowl, then top with chicken. Add hot, steamy broth and any other toppings that you enjoy (I'm somewhat of a minimalist here). Use the dipping sauce to dip pieces of chicken in before slurping them down with noodles and hot broth. Enjoy!
