Today’s culinary creation is homemade chicken pho and chicken spring rolls.

Ingredients for chicken pho: chicken, pho noodles, chicken broth, cilantro, garlic, onion

Ingredients for chicken spring rolls: chicken, cabbage, onion, carrot, green onion, vermicelli, celery

I am a big fan of pho and spring rolls and have frequented different Vietnamese restaurants around town. Today was the first attempt at home of trying to create a homemade version of some my favorite Vietnamese dishes.

First up for the pho was preparing and cooking of the chicken. Even at restaurants, I usually choose chicken over beef. Chicken tends to be leaner and not as fatty. After prep of the chicken, was was boiling the noodles. I made sure to get the pho noodles for this. I found it at a local 99 Ranch market. Once both the chicken and pho were prepared, the soup base was poured over both and the cilantro and onion were added on top.

As for the spring rolls, I wanted to have vermicelli noodles as one of the ingredients. I am a big fan of Vietnamese spring rolls with vermicelli inside. I also wanted a healthier version of egg rolls and so instead of frying these, I put them in the oven. For about 10 mins at 400F, they came out crispy and tasty. I used sweet chili sauce for the dipping sauce.

I had a lot of fun creating a homemade version of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. I know it won’t be the last time that this will be made ;).