Vietnamese version (bản tiếng Việt): click here!
It’s chicken again! Chicken vermicelli soup (we called it “Miến gà” in Vietnam) is another popular soup. Comparing to Pho or Spicy Beef Noodle soup (“Bun Bo Hue”), it is much simpler to make as we don’t need to have any special spices. Just chicken, vermicelli, and some basic garnish like cilantro or spring onions that make the dish stand out.
In the very first recipe on Freestyle Vietnamese crab soup, I briefly noted down how chicken broth could be made at home. Here, I’m showing a detailed instruction of that, with a stay-in-budget style. We know that bok choy, radish (or daikon radish), carrots, shallot, onions, garlic, spring onion heads and coriander roots (or cilantro roots) add a lot of flavor to the broth. You can totally add those to make your broth more delicious. However, I wanted to stay in budget and used the onion for different dishes so I chose to use the skins of the onion, garlic and shallot. And since I always have spring onions and cilantro, I used some spring onion heads and cilantro root in my broth. Shout out to my roommate for showing me these tips. That’s how we, my roommate and I, these two PhD students, made tasty broths for every soup.
Ingredients: (for 2-3 servings)
- Chicken thighs: 2 thighs (bone-in or boneless)
- Cold, filtered water: 1/4 gallon (~ 1 L)
- Boiling water: 1/4 gallon (~ 1 L, just enough to soak the vermicelli)
- Vietnamese mung bean vermicelli: 200 grams
- Carrots: ~ 50 grams
- Onion skins, shallot skins, garlic skins, spring onion heads, cilantro roots: up to how much you have by the time of cooking (optional)
- Seasoning: 4 teaspoon seasoning powder (or 4 teaspoon of salt + 2 teaspoon of sugar as alternatives)
- Black pepper, spring onions and cilantro for serving
Preparation:
- Making the broth: Add the chicken and sliced carrots to a pot and fill with cold, filtered water. In a small filter bag, add all of the onion skins, shallot skins, garlic skins, spring onion heads, cilantro roots and put it into the chicken pot. The purpose of putting all of them in a filter bag is for easy removal after cooking. Turn on the heat (medium) and bring to boil. By the time the water boils, a lot of scums and white foams will be released to the surface so remove those to have a clear broth. Turn down the heat to simmer, cover with the lid and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove the filter bag, take out the fully cooked chicken thighs and shred them, then add the shredded chicken back to the pot.
- Season the soup with seasoning powder or mixture of salt & sugar.
- Soak the vermicelli in boiling water for 5 minutes then drain and place in a bowl. This step could be done in the 20 minutes of simmering. Place the shredded chicken in the bowl and pour the hot broth into the bowl. Top with chopped spring onions and cilantro, sprinkle some black pepper and enjoy!
Total time: 35 minutes
That’s it for this recipe. Hope you would enjoy it!
And hopefully I could come up with vegetarian version soon!
Homemade Vietnamese chicken vermicelli soup
Ingredients
- 2 thighs Chicken thighs
- 1 L Cold, filtered water
- 1 L Boiling water just enough to soak the vermicelli
- 200 grams Vietnamese mung bean vermicelli
- 50 grams Carrots
- Onion skins, shallot skins, garlic skins, spring onion heads, cilantro roots: up to how much you have by the time of cooking (optional)
- 4 tsp Mushroom bouillon powder
- Black pepper, spring onions and cilantro for serving
Instructions
- Making the broth: Add the chicken and sliced carrots to a pot and fill with cold, filtered water. In a small filter bag, add all of the onion skins, shallot skins, garlic skins, spring onion heads, cilantro roots and put it into the chicken pot. The purpose of putting all of them in a filter bag is for easy removal after cooking. Turn on the heat (medium) and bring to boil. By the time the water boils, a lot of scums and white foams will be released to the surface so remove those to have a clear broth. Turn down the heat to simmer, cover with the lid and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove the filter bag, take out the fully cooked chicken thighs and shred them, then add the shredded chicken back to the pot.
- Season the soup with seasoning powder or mixture of salt & sugar.
- Soak the vermicelli in boiling water for 5 minutes then drain and place in a bowl. This step could be done in the 20 minutes of simmering. Place the shredded chicken in the bowl and pour the hot broth into the bowl. Top with chopped spring onions and cilantro, sprinkle some black pepper and enjoy!
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