Vietnamese Chicken Pho Bowl with Rice Noodles

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1.5 litres good chicken stock, gluten-free
• 100 g bean sprouts
• 200 g flat rice noodles
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced
• 3 spring onions, green tops only, sliced
• 1 long red chilli, sliced
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 star anise
• 15g fresh coriander
• 15g fresh mint
• 2 limes, cut into wedges
• 1 tbsp tamari
• Pickled cucumber, to serve

Method

1. Tip the chicken stock into a large saucepan with the star anise, cinnamon stick, sliced ginger and fish sauce. Bring to a gentle simmer over a medium heat — you want lazy bubbles, not a rolling boil, and within two minutes the kitchen should smell of warm spice. A hard boil bruises the aromatics and turns the broth cloudy.
2. Season the chicken breasts with salt, then slip them into the simmering broth and poach over a low heat for 15–18 minutes, until firm to the touch and just cooked through. Lift them out, rest for a couple of minutes, then shred with two forks along the grain.
3. Strain the broth through a sieve to catch the spices and ginger, then return it to the pan. Taste it now — really taste it. Adjust with tamari and a little more fish sauce until it's deeply savoury and rounded; most of the salt comes from the fish sauce, but a small pinch of salt at the end ties it all together.
4. While the broth holds at a low simmer, cook the rice noodles per packet instructions, usually 4–5 minutes in boiling water until tender but still with a little bite. Drain and divide between four deep bowls.
5. Pile the shredded chicken on top of the noodles, then ladle over the steaming broth so it slips through the strands and warms everything through.
6. Finish each bowl with spring onion greens, generous handfuls of coriander and mint, a tangle of bean sprouts and a scatter of red chilli. Serve with the lime wedges alongside — a squeeze of lime at the table is non-negotiable, the acid lifts the broth from savoury to alive.