Step 1. Make the chicken broth

• Cut the chicken into large pieces. Do you use a whole chicken? Then remove the butt, cut the chicken in half and clean it inside. Soak the chicken in hot water for 10 minutes. Then rinse it off with cold water.

• Bring a large pan of water to the boil (approx. 6 liters). Add the chicken or chicken thighs and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Check occasionally for the foam and remove if necessary.

• After 30 minutes of cooking, add the chicken stock cubes and the sugar. Leave on low heat for another 45 minutes. In the meantime, continue to the other steps.

• After the broth has simmered for 1 hour and 15 minutes in total, turn off the heat and leave it for a while with the lid on the pan.

• Remove the chicken from the pan and shred it with two forks into smaller chicken pieces.

Step 2. Make the Hanh Chua (optional)

• Cut the onion into half rings.

• Add the yellow vinegar, water and sugar and leave for at least 1 hour. In the end, the sorrel should not be sweet, but sour.

Step 3. Prepare the ginger and onion

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

• Clean the onion and ginger but leave the skin. Cover a baking tray with onion halves and ginger pieces and roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Add the star anise and cinnamon halfway through.

• Cut the tops off the onion and remove the outer layer and mash the ginger with a large knife. Add it to the chicken broth along with the star anise and cinnamon.

• Let it simmer for a while and add salt to taste if necessary. The broth should be a little on the salty side. When you add the noodles, it becomes less salty.

Step 4. Serve the pho ga

• Place the noodles on a plate and pour the soup over it.

• Finally, add the bean sprouts, chicken, juice of 1 lime, spring onion, fresh herbs and red chili. Add a splash of fish sauce if desired. Garnish with a wedge of lime.