Vietnamese Chicken Soup with Greens

This is a nice simple soup with a bit of body. This is a recipe for about 6 servings.

About one pound of chicken (2 legs or 1 breast)
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 ounces cellophane noodles; soak in warm water for 20 minutes and drain
5 or 6 stalks bok choi or Swiss chard; wash
3 tablespoos nuoc mam (Thai fish sauce will do)
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper
3 cups cooked rice (1.5 cups rice; cook); jasmine rice seems to work well
Rinse chicken, get rid of as much skin and fat as you can. Put in large pot with broth and water. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer. Skim off any foam that shows up (less of an issue if you don't have bones in there). Cook this way for about half an hour; chicken should be cooked through.

Remove chicken, let sit until cool enough to handle. Toss the bones, shred the meat (break up into little bits by hand), set aside for later. Either chill the broth and skim the fat or strain the broth through a couple layers of cheesecloth (this step is semi optional; kinda greasy with that extra fat, though).

Use scissors to cut your noodles into 3 inch or 4 inch segments. Set aside for later. Cut off the bok choi stems and put them back in the fridge for another recipe. Slice the leaves in half lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1-inch slices.

Heat the broth to a simmer. Add nuoc mam, add salt if it taste likes it needs it. Get six bowls. Put 1/2 cup rice in each bowl. Divide shredded chicken amongst bowls. Add noodles and leaves to simmering broth and bring to decent boil; stir; ladle soup over rice and chicken (getting the noodles and greens about even). Grind some black pepper into each bowl. Serve immediately.

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