This is one of the most simple yet most complex tasting Vietnamese dishes. We're making bún măng gà, which is a Vietnamese noodle soup with chicken and bamboo. This dish is usually made with duck instead of chicken, but because chicken is much more affordable, I love using it over duck any day.
Prep the chicken legs and carcass by rubbing clean with salt on all sides, then rinse chicken and pat dry.
4 chicken legs, 1 lb chicken carcass
To a large pot, bring 4.5 litres of water to a boil. Once boiled, add chicken and ginger. Simmer for 25 minutes on medium, and skim off any foam. (see Note 2)
4 chicken legs, 1 lb chicken carcass, 4½ L water, 140 g ginger
Remove chicken from the stock and set aside to cool. Discard ginger.
Add soup seasoning to pot: chicken powder, rock sugar, and fish sauce. Add shallot & bamboo mix to the pot. Continue to simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes.
454 g bamboo shoots, 100 grams rock sugar, 3 tbsp chicken powder, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 1 shallot
Dipping Sauce (see Note 3)
Add garlic and ginger to mortar and pestle, pound until a rough paste is created.
1 inch ginger, 1½ tbsp garlic
In a pan, heat up water and mix in sugar. Turn off heat.
⅓ cup water
Add fish sauce, garlic & ginger mix, remaining water and lime (or rice vinegar). Add chili to taste (optional).
¼ cup fish sauce, 1 inch ginger, 1½ tbsp garlic, ½ lime, 1 thai chili pepper
Assembly
To serve, add noodles, soup and bamboo to bowl. Garnish with cilantro, onion, lime and green onion.
cilantro, 2 stalks green onions, white cabbage
In a side bowl, arrange portioned chicken legs on top of cabbage. Ladle sauce over, or dip chicken directly in sauce.
white cabbage, 4 chicken legs
Notes
Note 1: Bamboo differs! If you look for the yellow bamboo at the grocers, there are some packages with young or older bamboo – I would select the younger one, as it’s a nicer bite, and sometimes find the older one to be tougher. There’s also white bamboo, which is used for sour fish soups!
Note 2: The goal is a clear broth. Make sure to attentively skim any scum, as skipping this would change the taste of the soup.
Note 3: Do not skip the dipping sauce! It’s similar to the beloved Fish Sauce dip, but just more concentrated, with a hit of grated ginger, which goes so well with chicken.