Chicken Glass Noodle Soup (Mien Ga)
Mien Ga (Chicken Glass Noodle Soup) is one of the dishes served at traditional Vietnamese feasts or banquets. Since the soup is so tasty and easy to make, you can also enjoy it all year round. I also include instructions to make the variation with dried bamboo shoots at the end of the recipe card.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 592kcal
Ingredients
- 0.5 oz dried wood-ear mushrooms
- 3-4 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 whole chicken (about 3 lbs or 1.4kg)
- 9 cups water (plus more to parboil the chicken)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3-4 medium whole shallots, peeled
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled
- 3-4 scallion stalks, white parts separated and green parts thinly sliced
- 6 oz glass noodles
- cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon minced shallots
- 1 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce (to taste)
- black pepper
- Vietnamese coriander, chopped
- cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- Soak dried wood-ear mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms in hot water for 5-7 minutes or until they are fully rehydrated. Julienned wood-ear mushrooms (we will have about 1 cup). Remove the stems of shiitake mushrooms and keep the mushrooms whole.
- Parboil chicken in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Then take it out and discard the blanching liquid.
- In a clean pot, bring 9 cups of water to a boil. Add 2 teaspoons salt, whole shallots, ginger and the white parts of scallion to the pot. Then add the chicken and let the water come back to a boil. Skim off any foam then lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Cover the pot with the lid slightly askew and poach the chicken for about 20 minutes or until the meat is just cooked through.
- Transfer the cooked chicken to an ice bath. Once it is cool enough to handle, separate the meat and the bones. Put the bones together with the shiitake mushrooms in the stock pot and continue to simmer the broth for at least another 45-60 minutes. If you have time, simmer the bones for 90-120 minutes for stronger flavors. Shred the meat.
- 30 minutes before the broth is ready or when you want to serve the dish, soak glass noodles in room temparature water for 20-30 minutes.
- Place a skillet over medium heat and heat some oil. Once the oil is hot, add 1 tablespoon minced shallots and cook for about 30 seconds or until very fragrant. Add julienned wood-ear mushrooms and stir and cook briefly. Add 1½ teaspoon fish sauce and a generous amount of black pepper. Stir thoroughly and sauté until the flavors are fused. Set aside.
- Once the broth is ready, take the bones out of the broth and increase the heat to bring it to a more rapid simmer. If too much liquid has evaporated, you can add back some hot water to the broth. Add sautéed wood-ear mushrooms first, then add the noodles to the pot. Cook very briefly (about 30-45 seconds for me but it will depend on the noodles). It is better to slightly undercook the noodles than overcooking it. Taste the broth and adjust seasonings to your likings. Then transfer the noodles to serving bowls.
- Place shredded chicken over the noodles. Scatter sliced scallion, cilantro, Vietnamese coriander and sprinkle black pepper on top. Ladle hot broth as well as wood-ear mushroom strips into serving bowls. Serve immediately.
Notes
Traditionally, we cook the glass noodles directly in the broth instead of cooking them separately like how we cook rice noodles. Glass noodles are not as starchy as rice noodles. Besides, they will absorb some of the broth and become more flavorful themselves. Make sure you use Vietnamese (or Chinese) glass noodles. Korean-style glass noodles are thicker and chewier, thus not suitable for the dish.
For the best textures, don't overcook the noodles. We like them to be soft with a pleasant chew. And you should eat the dish right after finishing cooking. There will be a point where the noodles' textures turn unpleasant because the longer they sit in the hot broth, the more broth they will absorb and the more they will expand.
Vietnamese coriander is called rau răm and can be found at some Asian grocery stores. It is okay if you don't have this herb. Just using scallion and cilantro is totally fine.
Variation: Chicken glass noodle soup with bamboo shoots (mien mang ga)
This variation is also delicious. You will still need to do all the cooking steps above plus more steps to prepare the dried bamboo shoots as follows:
- Use about 8-10 oz of soaked dried bamboo shoots for 4 people. By “soaked dried bamboo shoots”, I mean dried bamboo shoots that are packed in liquid. If you only have dried sheets of bamboo shoots, you will need to soak them in water for a few days (and change the water a few times).
- Boil bamboo shoots in a lot of boiling water for 25-30 minutes to remove strong smell and taste. Then discard the liquid and rinse the bamboo shoots. Tear them into strips.
- Place a pan over medium heat. Add some oil and once the oil is hot, add minced shallots (about 1 tablespoon). Sauté until shallots are fragrant. Add shredded bamboo shoots to the pan, give it a quick stir. Add fish sauce (about 1 teaspoon or to taste) and stir and cook for several minutes. Sprinkle some black pepper on top.
- Add the sautéed bamboo shoots together with the wood-ear mushrooms as in Step 7 in the Instructions section above before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 592kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 143mg | Sodium: 1508mg | Potassium: 540mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 357IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 64mg | Iron: 3mg