Mi Quang Ga soup: “Sounds of the Season”
Annie Nguyen says she started cooking when she was five years old and by the age of 17, she was already working in professional kitchens.
That experience gives the chef/owner of Nguyen’s Vietnamese Family Restaurant in Guelph, Ont., a considerable culinary background, which she uses to draw from her family’s rich food history. The homestyle dish that is dearest to her is mì Quảng gà (Q1B on the restaurant menu). It’s essentially “chicken noodle soup.”
“The soup has a long story,” Nguyen said. “It started with my grandmother, my mom and my auntie back home. And now, I am continuing the tradition.”
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While Nguyen makes her own rice noodles, the dish uses the relatively simple, inexpensive ingredients: pork bones for broth, chicken, sometimes mint, green onion, cilantro and peanuts on the side.
It can be made using only vegetables, too, if dietary or budgetary needs require.
Read more about Annie and get the recipe here.