Vietnamese Style Soup

I love the flavors of Pho, a vietnamese style noodle and beef soup and wanted to attempt to make my own chicken version. It seems like the perfect soup for when your sick and I know the basic ingredients lend themselves to my style of cooking. I am also pretty sick of my basic chicken soup recipe and needed something to spice up my next cold. I'm not ready to post a recipe, though there are plenty of easy ones out there, since the soup was a bit flat but I hope to make it again and post something in the near future.

I did learn what spice has been tantalizing me for years: star anise. I don't have a great palate nor do I know a lot about asian cooking but I learned enough last night to say that the flavor that I love in pho is star anise. Here are a few pictures of the preparation.



A few of the ingredients: bok choy, cilantro, bean sprouts, shallots, straw mushrooms. I think only the bean sprouts and cilantro are traditional ingredients. Not in the picture are a whole roasted chicken, the spices, fish sauce, and the glass noodles. I very much enjoyed the bok choy and mushrooms and would include those even if its not traditional.



I sort of half made my own stock. I simmered prepared chicken broth with the bones of the chicken, star anise, roasted garlic, roasted shallots, cilantro stems, corriander seeds, celery and fish sauce. It fortified the broth and gave it that distinctive star anise taste and smell. Given that I was working with a whole roasted chicken (from the store of course), I separated the meat, skin, and bones and used them where necessary. The roasted garlic is not traditional but one of my favorite parts of chicken soup.



The final product. Spicy, crunchy, and fresh tasting.