This was a delicious and incredibly easy to prepare soup. The garnishes take longer to get ready than the soup! The only changes that I would make are the noodles and the star anise. The recipe calls for wide rice noodles and we found them unpleasantly gelatinous. Next time, I�ll go with the thinner spaghetti-like rice noodles that we�ve had in restaurants with pho. The star anise flavor is a little strong � maybe use five instead of ten. The herb amounts are probably a little large, too. Just prep what you think you might need for how many folks you�ll be serving.
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth (two 32-ounce boxes)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
10 whole star anise
6 whole cloves
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cinnamon stick
2 bone-in chicken breasts (about 2 1/2 pounds total), skin removed, trimmed
6 ounces wide rice noodles
6 cups chopped bok choy
2 cups mung bean sprouts
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh mint leaves
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 fresh Thai chile or serrano, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into 6 wedges
Recipe
In a 5-6 quart slow cooker, place the broth, brown sugar, fish sauce, star anise, cloves, ginger and cinnamon stick. Add the chicken, meat side down. Cover and cook on �high� for 4 hours or on �low� for 8 hours.
Place the chicken on a cutting board. With a slotted spoon take the spices out of the slow cooker and discard. Place the noodles and the bok choy in the slow cooker and turn to �high�. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Shred the chicken and, after the 30 minutes are done, place it in the cooker. Cover to heat through (just a few minutes). Serve with the rest of the ingredients to garnish the soup.
Makes six (2 cup) servings.
Per serving: 362 calories; 6 g fat ( 2 g sat , 2 g mono ); 75 mg cholesterol; 40 g carbohydrates; 4 g added sugars; 39 g protein; 3 g fiber; 645 mg sodium; 998 mg potassium