Vietnamese Pho is pretty much "awesome broth that has lots of crunchy, yummy add-ons." Obviously then, the broth makes the soup. There are two schools of thought here: make a slow cooked beef broth out of good knuckles, oxtail, or other bones plus a mix of almost "garam masala" type spices. You can see a discussion of those spices at Steamy Kitchen's version of Pho.
It really benefits from remembering that this is "jumped up street food" and so our recipe is fairly flexible based on what is in the fridge that needs to get used super-fast. At its core, the Pho needs a solid beef-y broth, sprouts, beef, and something from the onion family (leeks, onion, scallions, etc). Top with lime juice and cilantro/basil and we are ready.
Even Bri will eat this soup.
- 6 cups of broth from cubes
- 2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon of lime juice
- 1/3 cup of an Oriental sauce (stir-fry sauce, plum sauce, even gravy!)
- 1 inch of grated ginger root
- 1 dash of red pepper flakes
- 1 cup of sliced onion family (leek, onion, or scallions)
- 1 cup of carrots sliced
- 1 lb of flank steak, chilled then sliced very thin against the grain
- 8-10 oz of rice noodles
- 2 cups of sprouts
- 1/2 cup of cilantro, diced
Steps:
- In a large pot, heat the broth water to high simmer.
- Add sauces, ginger and red pepper. Stir well and simmer until uniform.
- Add onion, carrots, steak and cook for 20 minutes.
- Add rice noodles and cook 6-8 minutes (read package carefully).
- When the noodles are done, serve immediately by ladling into bowls. Top with sprouts, cilantro (basil is also good). Make sure there is more hoisin sauce and hot pepper sauce available on the table.
