Craig's Pho

A friend of ours, Craig, made this one night for dinner. I got the recipe off him and have probably made it 6 times since, each time taking another shortcut. Craig's version is a little more involved than this one, but given how delicious this is, i want it on the table ASAP!

This serves 4 and takes about 40 minutes from start to finish. The stock itself keeps well but if you've added the noodles and everything in, then it's not ideal the next day, so keep that in mind if you want to have it the next day, keep the stock separate to the toppings/fillings.

Ingredients

Master Stock:

1 brown onion, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 Tbs ginger, grated

1 Tbs lemongrass (I use the paste), or an entire stalk of lemongrass, finely chopped

3 star anise, crushed

2/3 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground coriander seeds

1/4 tsp Chinese 5 spice

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 heaped tsp sugar

2 Tbs fish sauce

2 coriander roots, lightly smashed

1.5-2 Ltrs chicken stock

Filling:

2 large chicken breasts or 4-5 chicken thigh fillets

1 pack rice noodles, cooked

green or red chill, thinly sliced

1/2 head broccolii, chopped in small bite sized pieces

1 cup mint leaves

1 cup coriander leaves

5 spring onions, thinly sliced

1 cup bean sprout

200 g cup mushrooms, sliced

Method

Cook onion along with garlic, ginger and lemongrass on medium heat until golden. Add the spices, cook for another 2 minutes , until fragrant. Then add the stock, fish sauce, coriander roots and sugar and simmer for 10 minutes. At this point I like to drain out the onion and coriander roots along with any of the larger spices floating around. (See picture)

This is the master stock. You can freeze this for later if you want. If eating that night, then at this point i add the chicken and simmer for another 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked.

meanwhile, get the filling ingredients ready. Once the chicken is done, shred or cut into bit sized pieces and then assemble and enjoy!