[Vietnamese Recipes] Cháo & Gỏi Gà Instant Pot (Vietnamese Chicken Porridge & Salad)

Cháo & Gỏi Gà Instant Pot (Vietnamese Chicken Porridge & Salad)
Servings: 4-6 bowls
Difficulty: Easy Peasy

Author: Katie Le | Katie’s Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Chicken porridge:
4 chicken leg quarters or 4 chicken bone-in thighs
1 cup of jasmine rice (washed well)
1/2 cup of sweet/glutinous rice (washed well)
1 knob of ginger, about 1/4 lb (peeled and halved)
1 onion (white or yellow)
15-16 cups of water depending on your thickness preference (Tip: use boiling water to speed up pressure building time)
1 tbsp of fish sauce
2 – 3 tbsp of mushroom seasoning
1 tbsp of sea salt
about 1 tbsp size of rock sugar
1 tbsp of cooking oil

Gà Xé Phay – Shredded Chicken Salad:

1/2 a cabbage (finely shredded)
a handful of Vietnamese coriander/rau ram (coarsely chopped)
Salad Dressing: Combine sugar, vinegar and water as shown below. Adjust to your taste by adding more or less of each. The taste needs to be a little sour and a little sweet at the same time. Optional to add olive oil. Lastly add sliced onion and set aside.
2 tbsp of sugar
4 tbsp of water
3-4 tbsp of white vinegar
1 tbsp of olive oil, optional
1/2 a white onion (thinly sliced)

Garnishes:
2 tsp of sea salt and a few dashes of black pepper (for dipping the chicken salad)
chopped onion and cilantro
a few lime wedges
black pepper
chili
fried shallot

Directions

Wash chicken with salt and trim fat/skin as need. Add chicken to inner pot along with 1 onion, ginger, and 1 tbsp of sea salt. Pour 8 cups of boiling water to cover ingredients. Select Manual/Pressure Cook, 6 minutes, 15 minutes NPR if you are using the 8-quart and 20 minutes NPR if you are using the 6-quart.
In a large pan on medium heat, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Once it’s hot add rice and sweet rice. Saute for about 5 minutes or until the jasmine rice is power white similar to the sweet rice. Continue stirring to prevent rice from turning brown. Turn off heat, remove rice from hot pan and set aside. Note: this step is traditionally used to prevent the rice from over expanding during the porridge cooking process. You may skip if you like your porridge thicker.
Once cook time is over, wait an additional 15 minutes if you are using the 8-quart and 20 minutes if you are using the 6-quart, then slowly turn knob to Venting to manually release remaining pressure. Pull chicken out and immediately flush it with cold sink water. This step prevents the chicken from being over cooked and turning brown. Drain and set chicken aside to cool. Remove and discard onion from chicken broth. Use a sieve to remove the impurities. Add saute rice/sweet rice from step 3, about 1 tbsp of rock sugar, and 7 cups of boiling water. Give it a good stir to make sure rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pot and close lid. Turn knob to Sealing again and select, Porridge, adjust to 15 minutes, full NPR (about 20-30 minutes).
While the rice is being cooked, shred/de-bone chicken and mix with cabbage and chopped Vietnamese coriander. Drizzle dressing on top and toss to combine. It’s best to use your hands with gloves on. Lightly squeeze the mixture so that dressing is soaked into the chicken and to wilt the cabbage. Let salad sits for about 15 minutes.
Once IP has reached full NPR, open lid and give porridge a good stir. Check for thickness consistency to see if it’s to your liking. If you like porridge to be more loose then add about a cup of boiling water (or more). Turn on Saute mode and season the porridge with 1 tbsp of fish sauce and about 2-3 tbsp of mushroom seasoning. Adjust the taste to your liking. Turn off Saute mode to prevent porridge from scorching.
When ready to serve, add chopped onion and cilantro (and fried shallot if you like) on top of porridge. Spice it up by adding ground black pepper and hot chili. Chicken salad is served with a side of sea salt/pepper mixture for dipping. Optional to squeeze some lime juice on top before serving.