Happy Birthday with Crock Pot Chicken Pho

Happy Birthday S!  It's my younger sister's birthday today, another year to add to her late twenties.  Ever since I can remember, my family holds a strong tradition for birthdays and eating noodles.  For a long, long life of the birthday family member, we must congregate and eat noodles the day (or a few) before a birthday.  It's a big "no no" if the noodles are eaten the day of or after a birthday!.  As an avid noodle-lover such as myself, I have no complaints about this particular family tradition.

There are also other rules to the tradition, such as while eating the noodles, one must not chew off and break the noodle strand in order to ensure a long and wonderful life.  Or if a family member is elsewhere and cannot join the noodles dinner, then that member must try their very best to eat noodles on the same day.  Over the years, the tradition of birthday noodles also turned into a strict set of menu.  The birthday member typically has a choice of 3 different types of noodles: Za Zang Mien, Lian Mien aka Cold Noodles (if you have a birthday in the summertime), and Beef Noodle Soup, as explained here.

However for this birthday, I volunteered (or was I commanded by S?!) to make birthday noodles for the entire family.  I wanted to change things up and Chicken Pho instantly came to mind.  To be honest, this is really just another excuse to use my handy-dandy crock pot.  I put all the ingredients together and turned on the crock pot to high on an early Sunday afternoon, and by that evening, my kitchen was filled with the distinct smell of pho, which was all worth the wait.

Slow-Cooked Chicken Pho with BBQ Chicken
Chicken Pho from Jaden Hair of SteamyKitchen for Bon Appetit

Optional Ingredients:
- 2 stalks green onions, finely chopped
- Hoisin sauce
- Sriracha hot sauce

A few tips...
...I used parts from a whole chicken - chicken wings, gizzards (except for liver), and the entire chicken body after separating the breasts, legs, and excess skin.  Since you are just cooking the broth, save the good parts for something else and use as much as the miscellaneous parts as you can.  I used the chicken breasts for the BBQ Chicken portion of this recipe.
...I did not use whole coriander seeds because after I had put all the ingredients in the crock pot, I realized I did not have this ingredient.  I made beef pho before so I thought I had all the spices, but apparently, chicken pho is a little different.  Even without the coriander seeds, it still turned out tasty.
...for my crock pot size and amount of water, it took 5 1/2 hours to cook the broth.  The longer, the better.
...remember to salt your broth when it's close to done.  The recipe doesn't include any salt but to have a tasty bowl of pho, use salt!

BBQ Chicken adapted from Vietnamese BBQ Pork Salad, Savory Sweet Life

Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 Tbsp of olive oil
- 2/3 cup sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 onion, roughly chopped

Steps
1. Combine ingredients except for chicken and onions in a bowl.  Put bowl in microwave and ensure all the sugar melts.

2. Place chicken and onions bowl and marinate for at least 1 hour.

3. Grill chicken breasts over medium heat and cook until done.  Let chicken sit for about 5 minutes and cut into slices.

When the broth and BBQ chicken are done, assemble pho with soup, noodles, BBQ chicken slices, bean sprouts, sliced onions, green onions, and cilantro.  Pair with hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot sauce.

Serves 4-6.