Chicken is a delicious, nutritious food that is familiar to Vietnamese families. Let’s get cooking right away with chicken soup with Vietnamese coriander and sour chicken soup to enrich your family’s meals!
1. Sour chicken soup
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Preparation
1 hour
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Cooking
1 hour
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Sour Chicken Soup Serves 2 – 3 people
Chicken meat 600 gr Pineapple 1 fruit Tomato 2 fruits Finger chili 1/2 fruit Spring onion 5 gr Vietnamese coriander 5 gr Tamarind 30 gr Okra 200 gr Minced shallots 2 tablespoons Minced garlic 2 tablespoons Cooking oil 2 tablespoons Seasoning powder 1/2 tablespoon Fish sauce 2.5 tablespoons Spices a little (pepper/salt/seasoning granules/sugar)
Tips for choosing ingredients:
Tips for choosing tomatoes:
- Ripe natural tomatoes usually have a light red color, with fresh green stems, firm and plump skin, and feel slightly soft to the touch, fitting snugly in the hand.
- If you look closely, you will see small white spots on the flesh of the fruit through the skin.
- Avoid choosing tomatoes with wrinkled skin, dark brown spots, or those that are slimy, overly soft, or with wilted stems.
Tips for choosing pineapples:
- You should choose pineapples that are bright yellow from the stem to the tail. There may still be a few green eyes, but they will still have a certain sweetness. Pineapples that are uniformly yellow will be sweeter.
- Avoid choosing those that are unevenly colored, with dark brown spots or yellow turning red as they are overripe.
- Choose pineapples that are round and plump, as shorter fruits will have more flesh than longer, cylindrical ones.
Tips for choosing okra:
- Choose fresh okra that has a nice shiny green color, with a thin layer of fine hair on the outer skin, and shows no bruising or foreign substances.
- Avoid choosing overly soft fruits, and those longer than 8cm as they are old and less tasty.
Tips for choosing bean sprouts:
- Good bean sprouts will have bright, shiny seeds without dark spots. Any seeds with dark spots indicate that the sprouts are no longer fresh.
- The seeds should also be firmly attached to the sprout stalks rather than falling off. Good bean sprouts will have thick, round stems and a beautiful pure white color.
How to Make Sour Chicken Soup
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Prepare and Marinate the Chicken
Wash the chicken thoroughly, drain, then cut into small pieces about 2 – 3cm.
Marinate the chicken with 1 tablespoon of minced shallots and garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of seasoning powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1/3 teaspoon of ground pepper, and mix well with the chicken.
Let the chicken marinate for about 30 minutes to absorb the flavors.
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Prepare Other Ingredients
Soak 30g of sour tamarind in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes to extract the sour juice, then filter to get the liquid.
Clean the pineapple, peel and remove the eyes, cut off 1/3 of the fruit to remove the core and then dice it into small cubes, the remaining part cut into bite-sized pieces.
Cut the tomatoes into wedges. Clean the green onions and cilantro, then chop them finely.
Clean the okra and cut into bite-sized pieces. Slice the chili peppers.
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Cooking chicken soup
Place a pot on the stove, turn on medium heat, and add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil to the pot. Wait for the oil to heat up, then add about 1 tablespoon of minced shallots and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, and sauté until fragrant.
Add the finely chopped pineapple to the pot, stir-fry for about 2 – 3 minutes until the pineapple is slightly cooked, then add the marinated chicken, and stir-fry until it is sealed.
Season the soup with: 1/2 tablespoon of seasoning powder, 1/2 tablespoon of broth seasoning, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and 1/2 tablespoon of sugar. Once the chicken has sealed, add about 500ml of cold water to the pot, bring the water to a boil, and skim off any foam if present.
Cook until the chicken is tender, then add the chopped pineapple, stir gently until it boils again, and then add tomatoes and okra. Cook for an additional 3 – 5 minutes until everything is cooked through, then turn off the heat and ladle the soup into a bowl.
Add a little bean sprouts, cilantro, green onions, and chili to finish.
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Final product
Sour chicken soup is delicious with tender, flavorful chicken, complemented by the fresh sweetness and attractiveness of pineapple, bean sprouts, tomatoes, and okra—wonderful, right? Let’s enjoy it right away!
2. Chicken soup with Vietnamese balm
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Preparation
1 hour
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Cooking
1 hour
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Chicken Soup with Vietnamese Balm Serves 2 – 3 people
Native chicken 1/2 piece Fresh Vietnamese balm 100 gr Fresh bamboo shoots, shredded 250 gr Green bird’s eye chili 5 pieces Red horn chili 1 piece Chicken broth 1.5 liters Minced garlic 2 tablespoons Minced shallots 2 tablespoons Cooking oil 2 tablespoons Seasoning a little (salt/ sugar/) Fish sauce 1 tablespoon Seasoning powder 4 teaspoons Lemon juice 2 tablespoons Garlic oil 1 tablespoon
How to choose good bamboo shoots:
- For whole bamboo shoots: Choose fresh bamboo shoots with a rough shape, evenly segmented, not bent, no yellow leaves, with a surface free of dark spots and not wilted.
- For pre-shredded bamboo shoots: Visually, the shoots should have thin, crispy skin and be watery; avoid choosing shoots that are too white or have a yellow-brown color, and do not choose shoots that do not stick to the hand when touched and have visible lines.
- If the bamboo shoots have an unusually dark white or yellow color and a foul smell, they should not be used.
How to choose Vietnamese balm:
You should use fresh Vietnamese balm to give the soup a distinctive and delicious flavor.
-800x450.jpg "2 Simple Ways to Cook Sour Chicken Soup with Vietnamese Cilantro, Deliciously Irresistible 13")
How to prepare Chicken Soup with Vietnamese Balm
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Prepare the ingredients
Wash the bamboo shoots thoroughly, soak them in water with a little salt for about 20 – 30 minutes to clean, then rinse again and drain.
Pick out any damaged or old Vietnamese balm leaves, wash them gently, drain, and then chop them finely.
Wash the chicken, let it drain, and cut it into bite-sized pieces.
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Boiled Bamboo Shoots
Prepare a pot of boiling water, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the pot, add the bamboo shoots and boil until cooked.
After the bamboo shoots are cooked, remove them from the pot, rinse them with water, and let them drain.
Note: Bamboo shoots contain cyanide acid (HCN), which is toxic but can be easily handled by boiling with salt water, so there’s no need to worry too much when enjoying this dish. HCN is soluble in water and easily evaporates when heated. Therefore, it is necessary to boil the bamboo shoots with salt first to avoid poisoning.
See more: 6 ways to boil fresh bamboo shoots without bitterness, completely removing toxins
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Marinate Chicken
Add 3 teaspoons of seasoning powder, 5 green chili peppers, 1 tablespoon of shallots, and 1 tablespoon of garlic into a mortar, and pound the ingredients into a paste.
Then add the pounded ingredients to the cleaned chicken, and mix well to let the chicken absorb the flavors.
Tip: You should marinate the chicken with a bit more seasoning, so when cooking the soup, the meat will taste better.
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Cooking chicken soup
Place a pot on the stove, turn on medium heat, add about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, and add 1 tablespoon of shallots, 1 tablespoon of garlic to sauté until fragrant.
Add the marinated chicken to the pot and stir-fry until the chicken is firm.
Then add 1.5 liters of chicken broth, season with 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, and 1 teaspoon of sugar.
When the chicken is cooked, add the boiled bamboo shoots, cook for about 5 minutes until the bamboo shoots are thoroughly cooked, then add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce.
Turn off the heat and add the chopped rice paddy herb to the pot, season with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, stir well, and add 1 tablespoon of garlic oil to enhance the flavor of the dish.
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Final product
The chicken soup with rice paddy herb is delicious with crispy bamboo shoots, flavorful chicken, and the fragrant rice paddy herb, it’s really appealing, isn’t it? Let’s enjoy it right away!
How to choose delicious fresh chicken:
When buying live chicken
- The chicken’s beak is sharp, shiny, and there is no slimy discharge at the beak. The chicken’s legs are straight, slender, even, not scratched, not chipped, broken nails, and there are no red spots or unusual spots on the legs.
- When lifting the chicken’s feathers, the skin should be thin and soft, and when gently squeezing the body of the chicken, it should feel firm, not flabby, with some large yellow streaks under the breast and wings. Under the chicken’s wings and armpits, visible meat and blood vessels indicate that the chicken is firm and not fatty.
When buying pre-prepared chicken
- Our chicken skin is light yellow with darker yellow in certain areas like the breast, wings, and back, while battery chickens are white or yellow all over (possibly due to toxic dyeing). To identify whether the chicken has been dyed, observe; if the chicken’s skin is yellow but the internal fat is white, it indicates that the chicken has been treated with chemicals.
- Our chicken skin is thin, smooth, and highly elastic. Choose fresh chicken meat, with no foul odor, and the skin should not have bruises or blood clots. To buy good chicken, avoid those that are dark and dull in color, as that indicates they died before processing.
- Additionally, to avoid buying water-injected chicken, pay attention and press the suspected areas (mainly thighs and breasts) to check; if they feel soft, slippery, or deformed, do not buy. The chemicals injected are not good for health.
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