Vietnamese Chicken Noodle with Bamboo Shoots Soup

This soup is usually served during the Vietnamese Lunar New Year or Tet season.  There are other special recipes prepared for this celebration too.  Each has a different meaning for the celebration.

The Vietnamese also prepare a tray of offerings for ancestors on Tet days with fruit, boiled chicken, momordica sticky rice, wine, square sticky cake, cooked rice, flowers.

The Bamboo Shoots are reconstituted from dried, and take over 8 hours to process, but are well worth every minute.

Click on the hyperlink Vietnamese Chicken Noodle with Bamboo Shoots Soup below for a download of the printable recipe.

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle with Bamboo Shoots Soup

3 ounces dried Bamboo Shoots, reconstituted and cooked until tender
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large Chicken leg quarters
2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
5 Shallots, sliced
3 tablespoons Fish Sauce
8 cups water
3/4-inch chunk Rock Sugar
2 dried Wood Ear Mushrooms, reconstituted, cut into strips
4 large dried Shiitake Mushrooms, reconstituted, stemmed and quartered
8 small Scallions, trimmed to 5-inch lengths (white, pale green and some of the green part)
4 sections dried Vermicelli Rice Noodles
1 Serrano Chili, sliced into thin rings

Dried Shiitake Mushrooms are sometimes hard to find.  You can order and have delivered right to your door step!

Directions

Use dried bamboo shoots. Soak the dried bamboo shoots in water, covering the shoots with 3” of water. Soak for six hours.

Take the soaked bamboo shoots out of the water and put into a pot with 2 to 3 inches of water covering the bamboo shoots. Bring the water to boil and keep it at a simmering boil for an hour. Drain the water, add fresh water and bring the water to boil and keep it at a simmering boil for another hour. Rinse and cool the bamboo shoots after you take them out of the boiling water. The bamboo shoots should be real tender.

Cut the bamboo shoot in to thin pieces, approximately 2” and 1/2” wide and put them in a bowl. Discard the pieces that are tough.

Soak the Shiitake mushrooms in warm water for at least 30 minutes or until fully reconstituted. Soak the Wood Ear mushrooms in warm water for approximately 30 minutes.

Whack the elbows of the chicken with a butcher knife few times, the elbow comes off and will make the chicken look prettier in the presentation. Also, make sure that the ribs are off too. Sprinkle Kosher salt over the chicken pieces and set it aside.

Heat oil in a pot and add shallots. Cook them until they become translucent and fragrant smelling. Move the shallots to a side and add the chicken pieces, skin side down. Cook the chicken for couple of minutes on each side, make sure the sides are browned. Once the chicken is browned, add the fish sauce and cook it for a minute or until it thickens.

Add the water. Turn the heat up and bring it to a boil.

Take the Shiitake mushrooms out of the water. Cut off the stem and quarter it. Set the mushrooms aside.

Skim off the foam on top of the broth once the broth has come to a boil. Add rock sugar and bamboo shoots to the broth. Stir, turn the heat down to low and allow it to boil at simmer for an hour.

Add the Wood Ear Mushrooms, Shiitake Mushrooms and scallion to the broth. Cook it at a simmering boil for about 10 minutes

Boil water in another pan, add rice noodles and cook. The rice noodles cook very fast.

Add some rice noodles to a bowl, place a piece of chicken on top of the rice noodles. Spoon some mushroom mixture and broth over the chicken, garnish with some serrano pepper.

The Vietnamese Tet chicken noodle soup with bamboo shoots is ready to be served!