Chicken & Shrimp Patty Noodle Bowl

I used udon/ramen like noodles here because I had them on hand, but ideally I would have used pho noodles. I’d recommend soaking them for at least 2 hours (you can pop them in a bowl of warm water in the morning), so that when it’s time to eat the noodle portions will be ready in about 1-2 minutes. The noodles should be prepared separately from the soup broth, in its own pot of water. Extra patties would be delicious in a sandwich Vietnamese style, with pickled veggies and jalepenos and siracha mayo. You can also cut them into strips and roll them up in a goi cuon style, with vermicelli noodles, cucumber, lettuce and a hoisin sauce dip!

These are the bare bones of the recipe:

Noodles + Chicken & Shrimp Patties + Bok Choy

1 lb. ground chicken

1/2 lb. of shrimp, peeled

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup of oyster sauce

2 tbspns. of fish sauce (or more if you got some Vietnamese blood like me!)

Sesame seeds for crusting the meat patties

Vegetable oil

1 quart chicken stock, low sodium

A few slices of ginger

1/2 tbspn. of sugar  

Salt + pepper

Bok choy (about 4 halves per bowl)

Noodles

Lime wedges, optional

Throw the shrimp into a food processor and pulse a few times — the mixture should look like ground meat, not a paste. Combine the shrimp, ground chicken, garlic, 1/2 the oyster sauce and 1/2 the fish sauce. Form the meat into little meatballs, and roll them in the sesame seeds, flattening them slightly into discs. Heat the oil in a nonstick pan, and fry the patties in batches for about 3 minutes per side. Set them on the side on some paper towels while you prep everything else.

Grill the ginger pieces (I grilled three straight on my burner). Throw it into a pot with the chicken stock, the rest of the fish sauce, sugar and oyster sauce. Bring the broth to a boil and add salt & pepper to taste. If the broth is too intense, add more chicken stock.  

Prepare whatever noodles you’re using in a separate pot of water. Divide the noodles into however many bowls you’re preparing. Boil the bok choy for about 3-4 minutes. Top each bowl of noodles with 2-3 patties and 4 halves of bok choy. Pour the broth over the noodles and serve with lime wedges.  Slurp.