Streetfood: Cháo gà (chicken rice soup) from Vietnam
One of the projects I am working on for several years now, is streetfood, a collection of photos and recipees of food prepared by the ‘common man and woman’ I meet during my travels. Simple food I eat in the homes I have been invited to, or at the small road stalls when on my way. Eventually, these images and recipees will be published, but to make your mouth water, I will post a few already.
Although I personally prefer vegetarian food most of the time, I am not a strict non-meat eater. Especially in the mountains of Vietnam, this would be difficult, although they prepare delicious tofu dishes. Also when at home, I eat fish, chicken and meat now and then. I do try to buy meet from animals that had ‘a living’, and not from the big bio-industries. If you live in Friesland, like me, you could buy your beef at Fries Roodbont, or your chicken or pork at Eerlijk Vlees. In Vietnam, I went to several ‘Sunday markets’ where ethnic minorities from the surrounding mountainous villages went for their weekly shopping, an outing for which they often dressed at their best! I saw people buying a live chicken, often a young one, which they would feed and care for untill big and fat enough to eat. The animal is not caged, but scrapes on the premises where other animals are kept as well.
A H'Mong woman bought a chick | Lai Chau, Vietnam
Mama bought a chicken at the Sunday Market | Bac Ha, Vietnam
The chicken rice soup described here, is often served for breakfast in Vietnam. On the side, you can add an omelet with fresh herbs, cut in slices. If soup in the morning is too rich for you, have it for lunch or dinner and even if you recover from a flu: it will help you to regain strength.
Shopping list | ingredients | preparations:
Serves (at least) four persons.
- a small onion cut into pieces
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- salt to taste (1 teaspoon will do)
- 1 teaspoon grinded black pepper
- 1 whole chicken (1.8 kilo)
- 1 tablespoon spring onions
- sliced coriander leaves (tablespoon or more)
Preparation:
- Put 2,5 litres water, the onion, fish sauce, sugar, salt and pepper in a large saucepan and bring to boil. At that point add the chicken and bring to boil again for at least 5 minutes while skimming the impurities from the surface.
- Cover the saucepan, turn off the heat and leave it like that for 45 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare a large bowl filled with ice-cold water.
- Take the chicken out of the stock (keeping the stock!) and soak in the cold water for 10 minutes, drain afterwards and seperate bite-sized pieces of meet from the bone.
- Cook the rice in the stock for about 25 minutes.
- Put the pieces of chicken in soup bowls, add the rice soup and granish with spring onions and coriander.
Soup waiting to be served | Than Uyen, Vietnam
Enjoy!
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