Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)

Parboil chicken per about 1 minute and then drain all the water to remove any gunks. Set aside.

In a pan, dry roast ginger and onion until slightly browned. Transfer into the pot with chicken.

In the same pan, roast over low heat cinnamon stick, star anise, and coriander seeds. The original recipe made use of a 1 black cardamon (cracked open) but I prefer to leave this one out. Roast for 1 minute until fragrant. Make sure the spices dont burn. Place everything in a spice pouch and then transfer into the chicken pot. Note: if you are replacing coriander seed with cloves, add the cloves 20 minutes prior to end of the cook to maximize the flavor.

Put 2 liters if water into the chicken pot with the ginger, onion and spice pouch. Put 2 tsp salt. Bring to boil then turn to low heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes.

After 20-25 minutes, check if chicken is cooked through. Try to poke with a pork and see if the juice coming out is still pinkish.

Once you see that it is cooked, turn off heat and take the chicken out. Put it in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Once cooled, pick out the meat of the chicken off the bones and set aside.

Return the chicken bones and carcass into the pot and simmer for 45-60 minutes. You may want to add more salt as preferred. Add the cloves (if using) 20 minutes prior to turning the heat off.

To serve, put the pho rice noodles in a bowl. Top with shredded chicken meat and garnish with thinly sliced onion, bean sprouts, coriander leaves and chopped spring onion. Ladle 1-2 cups of the soup base. Serve hot.