Mi Ga Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

We're a family of cooks. My mom, the eldest of 9 children was cooking for the household as soon as she was old enough to go to the market, and in Vietnam, that was about the age of a 6th grader. She taught her brothers and sisters well as her younger brother and sister, my uncle and aunt, both have Vietnamese restaurants in Connecticut. When visiting, we don't go to their home, we go straight to their restaurants. We make sure that we visit my uncle's Pho 501 and aunt's Pho 88 restaurant equal homage lest they think we prefer one over the other. As in any sibling rivalry, each claim to have the best restaurant in town. Separated by a mere 5 miles there is a healthy rivalry between the two and each have it's legion of loyal customers. Besides pho, the other dish they have in common is mi ga, chicken noodle soup. Sold only on the weekends, we can attest that customers come far and wide just to eat mi ga.

Mi ga is one of our favorite noodle dishes because it combines the simple flavors of a broth steeped with chicken along with the great texture of fresh al dente egg noodles. Such a pure dish is actually hard to find even in Little Saigon. Egg noodle restaurants here specialize in more of the Chinese style like egg noodle soups such as mi vit tim or with barbecue pork such as xa xiu.

We used ga di bo translated as the 'walking chicken' or 'free range chicken' which is much more tender, fresher, leaner, and juicier than the butterball or jenny o' chicken. It's given the name because these chickens were raised on free range and allowed to roam freely instead of being contained. This 'walking chicken' is found in Asian markets and a little bit more pricier than regular chicken but it is well worth it. They are a delicious, clean, and healthy source of protein.

Mi Ga Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup
printable recipe

Stock

• 1 free range chicken (ga di bo)
• 2-3 lbs chicken bones (or for shortcut substitute with 2 qts chicken stock)
• 1 medium dried squid ( toasted and slightly charred)
• 1 medium knob of ginger (roasted/charred)
• 1 medium onion (outside skin removed and charred)
• 1 tbs salt
• 1 tbs sugar or 1 inch piece of rock sugar

In large stock pot, add roasted onion, ginger, dried squid, and chicken bones and enough water to cover the ingredients and add 1 tbs salt and sugar. Bring to slow boil and be diligent in skimming the gunk and scum from the broth. When you have removed most of the gunk, add the chicken and keep the stock at a slow simmer and cook chicken for about 35 minutes. Remove chicken and let cool, but covered in plastic wrap. Remove and discard chicken bones. Season the stock with more salt and sugar as needed.

When cooled, break down the chicken by shredding the breast and meat of the hindquarters into thin strips. The meat should really just almost fall off the bone without much effort. Using butcher's knife, chop the drumsticks and wings. Set the shredded chicken aside.

Condiments

• egg noodles, fresh if possible (we like both thin and wide noodles)
• 1 bundle of chives (he) chopped about 2 inches
• 1 lb of bean sprouts
• Shredded green lettuce
• 1 cup of freshly fried diced onion (hanh phi)
• sesame oil
• pickled jalapeno peppers (we substituted pickled onions in the photos)
• chile sate oil

Prepare your egg noodles by unraveling the pre-portioned bundle of noodles. Bring a large pot of water to boil and in large colander, dip a bundle for 10 seconds, remove and rinse in cold water. You want these noodles to be al dente. Drain and transfer to serving bowl. Drizzle the noodles with some pure sesame oil. Add the fresh fried onions, chives, shredded chicken, and ladle on broth.

Although the flavors of this soup is less complex then pho, we actually enjoy chicken noodle soup more than chicken pho (pho ga). The clean chicken broth along with tender and fresh free range chicken meat and al dente egg noodles makes this a wonderful addition to wonderful varieties of Vietnamese noodle soups.

With Hong driving and me typing, we are frantically trying to submit this post to Delicious Vietnam #5 before we cross the border to Vancouver, Canada before we lose internet connection. Thank goodness for new technology and mifis allowing us to blog and take road trips at the same time! Delicious Vietnam is a monthly blogging event celebrating Vietnamese cuisine created by Anh of A Food Lovers Journey and yours truly! This month's host is Anh of A Food Lovers Journey Submissions are due Sunday Sept 12 at 7:00 pm pacific time. For instructions on how you can participate, visit Delicious Vietnam information page.

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