Cháo & Gỏi Gà Instant Pot (Vietnamese Chicken Porridge & Salad)
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.
Hi! Would love to make this but there isn’t a market by me that has Vietnamese coriander. Is there a good substitute for it or can I omit? Or is it a must?
Thank you!
Christina
You can omit, Christina. Sometime I replace with cilantro so that’s an option.
Thank you so much for taking your time to post these delicious recipes!! I really appreciate it!!
What ratio would you suggest when using brown rice to make chao in the IP?
Hi Kien, I’d say to start with the same ratio. If it’s too thick you can always add more hot water.
Thank you Katie. Happy New Year!
You too!
Cooked this today and turned out very delicious,perfect for a cold an rainy day!loved your website and thanks Katie 😍
So good to hear that! Thanks 🙂
What good fish sauce do you recommend?
Hi Thuy, I like Red Boat best! That’s what our family use now. But 3 Crabs brand is also good.
Recipe was great but how do you manually release without making a mess? Lol my whole counter got sprayed 😭
Hi Bambie, did you mean when you release pressure to pull the chicken out? If so, do it gently and slowly. Wiggle the knob to Venting and back to Sealing a few times at first. Don’t just leave it on Venting when you first do the manual release. This knob is very sensitive. A few wiggles and you can let the steam out. Unfortunately since the chicken is inside we have to get it out otherwise it will overcook. If this manual release is for the porridge part then I don’t recommend doing it. For beans or porridge (starchy food) it’s best to let the IP release the pressure on its own (in Step 5 – Full NPR). It could take 30 mins to over an hour depending on how much is inside but it will keep your kitchen cleaner this way. Hope this helps!
I enjoy making all of your recipes. They really got me started cooking more at home, especially with my IP. So far they all turned out really well and my hubby enjoyed them all. Can’t wait for new recipes from you. 🙂
Hello, I have a different chicken soup base. Can I use that instead or do you recommend Quoc Viet?
Are the Quoc Viet Chicken Soup Base interchangeable with the Quoc Viet Chicken Pho Soup Base? I am interested in making this and the Chicken Pho but prefer to purchase one soup base possible.
No, the Pho Chicken Soup Base has distinct Pho flavors. I wouldn’t add it to other dishes. In place of it, you can season your chao with salt, sugar and mushroom seasoning/chicken powder to taste.
Thank you for posting this recipe.
Do you wash the rice before or after you sauté it? I figured after, but just wanted to double check.
Typically before, then you have to let it dry out completely.
Just finished making this. So good.
Thank you for the detailed instructions! The rice saute step made all the difference from when I tried other chao recipes.
Awesome!
Hi, did you changed your ingredient from the Quoc Viet Chicken pho seasoning to mushroom seasoning?
Hi Liz, yes I did to accommodate those who cannot find it. But you can still use it in place of salt and MS, adjust to your taste.
Is it really 15 minutes NPR for 8-qt and 20 for 6-qt? I would think the larger pot would require more time to depressurize.
Full NPR for porridge would likely take over 30 minutes for both sizes. The 8-quart has higher psi (more power) than the 6-quart so to avoid the rice from being too broken down I’d recommend to manually release the pressure (quick release) at 15 mins NPR for the 8 and 20 minutes for the 6. During NPR the pot is technically still cooking the food inside. I hope that makes sense. Thanks.
Delicious!
This turned out really good! Thanks!
Hi! If I don’t want to make the goi ga, can I just take the chicken out after it’s done cooking, debone it and throw it back in the pot with the rice?
Of course Lynn. I do that often too. The chicken is cooked so you can also just set it aside. Add to the cháo when serving.