Miến Gà (Vietnamese Chicken Bean Thread Noodle Soup)

As I was making gỏi gà (Vietnamese chicken salad), it made me think about miến gà (Vietnamese chicken bean thread noodle soup) and asked my mom to make me some while I am in Montréal. Actually, I believe it's a Chinese influenced soup, since I refer to it as "phan su cay" - "phan su" meaning bean thread noodle in Cantonese and "cay" means chicken. Pardon my poor phonetics' spelling skills...

Bean thread noodles are also know as cellophane noodles, glass noodles or mung bean noodles. As all these names indicate, they are clear and are made from the starch of mung beans. Actually, when I wikipedia-ed it, I learned there are bean thread noodles made from other types of starch but I'm only familiar with the mung bean ones.

Miến Gà (Vietnamese Chicken Bean Thread Noodle Soup) - 2 servings
My mom states that the secret to giving this soup or cháo gà (chicken rice porridge) a superior taste is the addition of lòng gà (giblets). I only really like liver so my mom bought some liver to flavour the soup.

* oil

* ½ small onion, sliced thinly

* 100 g chicken liver, chopped roughly (optional)

* salt and pepper, to taste

* 6 cups Vietnamese flavoured chicken broth

* 100 g cooked chicken, shredded

* 2 handfuls of bean thread noodles

* green onion, thinly sliced

* coriander, thinly sliced

Stir fry the onion in a bit of oil.

Add the liver and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Once the liver is cooked through, add the chicken broth.

Bring broth to a boil.

Add the chicken to the broth.

Meanwhile, rinse the bean thread quickly.

Add the bean thread noodles and lower the heat.

Turn the heat off when the noodles have expanded and are clear.

Serve with green onion and coriander.

Tada!

Chicken liver stir fried with onion.

Bean thread noodles are white and become transparent once cooked.