Chicken Pho Fabulous! Hot and SPICY Vietnamese Soup!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thai_peppers.jpg
By Daniel Risacher (Own work) [GFDL
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or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0
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Beautiful Thai Pepper Bush! 
Wouldn't you agree?!

(And, BTW, after just a few days of R+R, my stomach is feeling better and way ready to resume a spicier diet! Yea! And, FYI, believe it or not, in spite of a lot of disbelief in this, a lot of chili peppers really are kinder to your digestion that you might have guessed.)









Chicken Pho Fabulous! Hot and SPICY Vietnamese Soup!

I am not a big fan of commercially pre-made soup base or soup starter. But I do believe in great chicken or vegetable stock and Pacific is a great brand and food producers are getting savvier. So, when I saw this:

www.pacificfoods.com

 "

Organic Chicken Pho Soup Base

"Inspired by the traditional Vietnamese Pho (pronounced ‘fuh’), our delicious Organic Chicken Pho Base makes it simple to prepare authentic Pho at home.

INGREDIENTS

• Organic Chicken Broth (Water, Organic Chicken, Organic Spices, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Onion Powder)
• Organic Cane Sugar
• Sea Salt
• Organic Lemon Juice
• Organic Spice Extracts
• Organic Lime Oil
• Organic Rosemary Extract

SUITABLE FOR THESE SPECIAL DIETS

1. Low Fat
2. Gluten Free
3. Dairy Free
4. Corn Free
5. Soy Free
6. Wheat Free
7. Yeast Free                "

in my local grocery store's health food section, I thought, why not give it a whirl. I've rarely had a Vietnamese soup and I'm always up for a healthy culinary adventure!

But, as I cannot help myself, I did go wild with the ingredients. I followed some of the suggested directions and most (Okay, ALL of them except for onions) of the ingredients plus a few of my own and all I can say is:  WOW!!!  WOW!!! WOW!!!!

So here's the Ingredients I used:

1 box (4 cups) of Pacific Chicken Pho soup base.

I bought a 6.75 oz. package of Dynasty Maifun Rice Sticks (thin rice noodles). (Now this is important because some rice noodles taste like cooked cardboard (like the last ones I bought for my husband to use, that had a name I couldn't read in Chinese, and that ruined my husband's triple batch of Thai crab cakes). Others are awesome delicate and beautiful to behold. But I am still getting used to which ingredients work for my recipes and which ones don't, so I like to mention them.)

I cut up a package of three fresh full size boneless, skinless chicken breasts. (I am very fussy about my chicken. It has to be organic, fresh, no hormones or antibiotics, and it has to look good. I split my pieces in three piles: The gristle that I'll cook later with some rice for the dogs that I add, now and then, to their dog food, about 2-21/2 cups of quarter size pieces for the soup, and about 2 cups of medallions that I'll use in another dish later this week. I double bagged the two piles for later and put them away in the fridge.)

6 Tablespoons of hot chili sauce. I use Sriraja Panich Chili Sauce. VERY awesome.
(And note: in my experience,  hot chili sauces can vary widely. A wrong one can overpower or underwhelm or even ruin a good recipe, whereas a great one, like Sriraja Panich, can make your dish beautiful! Sriraja Panich has this lovely way of adding spicy and heat and dimension by blending with smokey undertones and doesn't stand out. I have tested about a dozen different hot chili sauces so far and thrown many of them out. The right ones, like this one, can make a huge difference to the success of so many of my Asian and Thai dishes that I have made a point of knowing where to buy this one locally, how it is shelved -which can be in a different location that other hot chili or "Sriraja" sauces in some stores- or how to get it online.)

3 Tablespoons of  House of Tsang Hoisin Sauce (Note; it has a little wheat in it,  so if that's out for you, I also have in my cupboard a gluten free brand, Sun Luck, but I confess I haven't used it yet and a little bit of wheat doesn't throw me off these days.)

3 to 5 cups of fresh bean sprouts

1-1/2 to 2 organic limes

Fresh Basil

Fresh Cilantro

Black Pepper to Taste (about a teaspoon)

1 Hot Red fresh Thai Chili Pepper with the seeds (cut up into tiny pieces with a scissors, I am getting cleverer, but still wear cooking gloves. Warning: chili peppers are hot!)

1-1/2 - 2 Fresh Red Fresno Peppers (These are about 2 inches long.) Note that on these chili peppers: Don't use the seeds or inside meat. These I cut with a knife into strips and then into pieces. These peppers look like this:

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By Nadiatalent (Own work)
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via Wikimedia Commons

And here's how I made it:  i.e., The Directions:


1. I boiled about 3 quarts of water while I cut up the chicken. After it came to a full boil, I turned it off and let it sit a few minutes.

2. The rice sticks come in three bundles. I took two or 2/3's of the package and put them in a metal bowl and poured the hot water over them, covered them and let them sit for 10 minutes.

3. I drained the noodles in a colander. Then I cut them up with a scissors and put them back in the metal bowl.

4. I rinsed the beansprouts in the colander and cut those with a scissors and left them there.

5. I scissor cut my Thai chili pepper including the seeds into pieces and knife cut 1-1/2 of my (cleaned of inner skin and seeded) Frenso chili peppers all on the same plate.

6. I poured the whole 4 cup box of Pacific Chicken Pho soup starter into the deep soup pan I boiled my water in. At first I didn't like the smell of the soup so much, but if that happens to you, just wait until the soup is brought to completion.

7.  When the soup starter mix came to a full boil, I threw in the 2-1/2 cups of cut up chicken, covered and turned the heat down to medium low. The chicken was cooked thoroughly in about 2-4 minutes.

7. Then I threw in my rice noodles, about 3 cups of my beansprouts, the chopped peppers and scissor cut a few fresh basil leaves, zested about 1/2 of a lime and squeezed 1-1/2 lime juice into it. I added 3 Tbsp. of Hoisin sauce, 6 Tbsp. of the Chili Sauce and black pepper to taste. Swished it around on simmer for about 1-2 minutes and served with fresh cilantro.

Yummmmm!

Now for the calorie countdown:

If you cook it like I just described above, 1/4th of the whole batch (a pretty big serving amounting to about two cups worth between the broth, the vegetables, the ingredients, and rice noodles) is about 194 calories. (1/8th is abut 97 calories.)

If you add in the extra two cups of beansprouts,  1/4 of the whole batch (a pretty big serving) is about 211 calories. (1/8th is about 106 calories.)

If you cook it using the above recipe, but use only 1/3 the package of rice sticks, then 1/4th of the whole batch is about 136 calories. Again a pretty big serving. (1/8th is about 68 calories.)

If you cook it with the extra two cups of beansprouts and don't use the rice sticks, a 1/4th serving then amounts to 93 calories. (1/8th is about 46 calories.)

If you use the gluten-free hoisin sauce, add 15 calories to 1/4th serving (or 8 calories to 1/8th).

You CAN have your rice and awesome taste and keep your diet too!

I can't wait to test drive this soup on my husband when he comes home tonight!

Bon Appétit!

And Kindest Regards from,

bbffair 

Note: 
This recipe is good for about eight servings, which can be perfect for a guest party first course. However, if you're not going to serve it on the first and second day, I'd recommend going with 1/2 of the above recipe as a better choice, because (due to the delicacy of both the bean sprouts and the rice sticks) it has a shorter refrigerator life than other soups.