Vietnamese Style Broth - The Quick Way

By RoketJSquerl

The secret to making superquick, Asian-style noodle soups is to enliven canned chicken broth with classic Vietnamese flavorings.
The Problem: Asian-style soups rely on a highly seasoned, homemade broth--which is too time-consuming when what's wanted is a quick, simple meal.

The Goal: Vietnamese noodle soups are based on a homemade broth, enhanced with exotic flavorings, and then filled with rice noodles, paper-thin and barely cooked slices of beef, thin rounds of raw onion, angled scallion slices, crisp bean sprouts, and lots of whole fresh mint and coriander leaves. We wanted to create a flavorful yet simple base for quick Asian-style soups using canned chicken broth and ingredients easily accessible to the home cook.

The Solution: To our surprise, the quickest cooking method worked best. We combined strong flavorings with hot, canned chicken broth, simmered for 20 minutes, and then added a combination of raw and cooked ingredients. The result: fast, aromatic, and tasty Vietnamese-style soup.

Ingredients

• 5 Cups Low-sodium Chicken Broth
• 4 Medium Cloves Garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 Piece Fresh Ginger (2 inch) peeled, cut into 1/8-inch rounds, and smashed (see illustration below)
• 2 Cinnamon Sticks (3-inch)
• 2 Star Anise
• 2 Tablespoons Asian Fish Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar

Preparation

Step 1

Bring all ingredients to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer partially covered to blend flavors, about 20 minutes. Remove solids with slotted spoon and discard. Cover and keep hot over low heat until ready to serve.