Vietnamese Pot Pho

 

source pixabay

Soup is my go-to dish when craving for flavour and want warm food. Either when someone is sick or just in need of a simple soup. I always remember a very rich of flavour soup from Vietnam, called Pho. 

The beefy soup is served in a pot but if you don't have any, a bowl will do the same trick. The true winner ingredient of the dish is the broth, that is why you need to pay attention of the broth itself when preparing a bowl of Pho.   

The Warm and Full Of Flavour Pho

The Vietnamese beef-based soup can be made with noodle and various side vegetables. People will spend time to make the broth in abundance and put them in the fridge. 

That way whenever you want to make Pho, you only to prepared the other ingredients. I am not a Vietnamese so I dont have the burden to make the very authentic broth. This is a simple Pho recipe that uses a simple beef broth to get any beginner chef to start cooking. 

Ingredients for the broth

• Beef bones (mix knuckle and shank) 
• cinnamon stick 
• 8 to 10 cloves 
• 4 green cardamom or 1 black cardamom pods 
• 2 to 3-star anise pods 
• 1 large onion, peeled and halved 
• 1 large ginger, roughly chopped 
• garlic cloves smashed 
• 2 tablespoon of brown sugar 
• salt 
• beef brisket or chuck in large pieces 
• Pho noodles or any rice noodle 
• bunch cilantro, half roughly chopped and a half left whole 
• Green onions, green parts thinly sliced 
• small onion, thinly sliced and soaked in cold water for 10 minutes 
• Lime wedges 
• Bean sprouts 
• Hoisin sauce 
• Sriracha
  

How to Make Your Very Own Homemade Pho

For broth:

Step 1
Fill a pot with enough water to soak all the bones and let it boil. Add the bones and chunk and get rid of the scum and cloudiness on the top layer of the water. If you have a pressure cooker, just let it cook for 20 minutes, change the water and repeat the process then toss it to the pressed cooker. If you don't have a pressure cooker then do all the process on the same pot.
 
Step 2
Strain the bones and chunks under cold water. Precheck for remaining scumminess.
 
Step 3
On a pan heat oil in medium heat. Add cloves, cinnamon, star anise and cardamom until fragrant. Add the chunks of bones, onion, garlic and ginger and add 6 cups of water. Add brown sugar, and salt, then stir to combine.
 
Step 4
Add the brisket with more water to cover to make sure everything is cooked.
 
Step 5
Place the lit to let the broth simmer and cook. It takes about 1 hour in regular pot and 10 to 15 minutes in the pressure cooker.
 
Step 6
When it is done let it rest to depressurize.
 
Step 7
Set aside the cooked brisket and then strain the broth with a mesh strainer into a pot or a container if you want to store in the fridge. It will be great up to 5 days.
 
 For Pho assembly:
 
Step 1
Slice the beef and prepare your noodle pho
 
Step 2
Take the broth and put them in a pot or bowl. Soak the noodles.
 
Step 3
Put the noodle on the bottom of each bowl. Add chopped onion, cilantro, with slices of beef. Add the boiling broth and add the garnish such as scallion, bean spout, lime wedges, and sriracha.
 
The key to this dish is the broth. I also would like to point out the tenderness of the beef. People have different taste when it comes to beef. I like it well done. So, I would put more time for the beef to be cooked. So, there you have it. A delicious Vietnamese pot Pho to warm your day.