Pho Gai

I love soup noodles. Hot and spicy ones, brothy ones, tangy ones. So naturally I try to make it from scratch every now and then. I came across a recipe for Pho Gai, which is Vietnamese chicken soup noodles, in the Sunday Magazine one weekend in Hong Kong. I cut out the recipe and brought it back with me to Melbourne. About a week later I tried out the recipe and fell in love with it. The star anise brings out a unique but beautiful flavour to the dish. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
- Approx. 500 grams of chicken with bones
- 1 onion
- 40 grams fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 whole cloves
- 2 star anise
- 2 lime leaves
- 1 red finger chilli
- 40ml fish sauce
- Lime juice to taste

Method:
- Roast the onion and ginger in a broiler or over a wire rack with the flame on medium and cook until brown on both sides (this adds flavour to the broth)
- Sprinkle chicken with some salt, cut into pieces and place in pot with about a litre of water and bring to boil over medium heat. Lower the heat so the water is just simmering and skim off any scum that rises to the surface.
- Add charred onion and ginger and black peppercorns, cloves, star anise, lime leaves, chilli, fish sauce and about half a teaspoon of salt. Simmer for 45 minutes to one hour. Remove the chicken, shred the meat and discard the bones.
- Strain the stock through a sieve into a bowl. Return the broth to the pot with the chicken and add the lime juice. At this point, taste for seasoning and add any extra lime juice, fish sauce or salt if needed. Serve with cooked rice noodles or vermicelli, bean sprouts, lime wedges and coriander leaves.