Passport & Plate - Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)
Australia | Tuesday, March 3, 2015 | 5 photos
1.5kg beef bones*
Enough cold water to fill a BIG pot
2 brown onions, chopped roughly
1 big piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp cloves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
3 or 4 cinnamon sticks**
A handful of star anise (6 or so)
Addition to stock:
Fish sauce
Lime juice
To serve:
200gm Beef round steak, sliced extremely thinly
Fresh rice noodles***
Fresh Vietnamese coriander****
Fresh Vietnamese mint
Bean shoots, washed
Fresh chillies, sliced keep the seeds in for extra hotness!
Hoi sin sauce
Chilli Sauce, sriracha or similar
Lime wedges
* HOT TIP - Don't use the marrow bones, they get too fatty, get the rib/backbone ones from the local butcher.
** I've been told by my Vietnamese butcher "no one ever puts enough cinnamon in" so use heaps!
*** Don't get the dried ones, I get the soft ones in the packet in the fridge of my asian grocer, they work better in the soup.
**** Don't stress if you cant get serrated Vietnamese coriander, the normal stuff is still super tasty with it!
How to prepare this recipeThe stock:
Grab the largest pot you own (mine is about 8L).
Throw every single ingredient in the stock list into the pot and fill it with water to cover the bones entirely (usually about 4-5 litres), don't be shy.
Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered for 4 hours (or until the liquid has reduced by almost half).
Bask in the aroma of fragrant broth permeating your entire house.
Depending on how fatty the bones are you'll want to scoop off the excess fatty liquid every now and again.
Remove from the heat and cool a little then use a slotted spoon/tongs (whatever works best) to remove all the larger items from the stock, then pour the rest through a sieve into a different pot.
Stock addition:
I tend to add the fish sauce and lime juice to soup stock I'm going to eat immediately. If you're going to freeze some for later, then separate that out before this step.
For each bowl of pho (about 500 mls) add one tbsp fish sauce and 1 tbsp lime juice to stock and bring to the boil and keep bubbling until you serve.
To serve:
Follow the instructions on the rice noodles (being careful not to over cook) and divvy noodles up.
I find 1/2 a packet makes two really big bowls and you can keep the rest in a snap lock container in the fridge.
Lay sliced raw beef on top of noodles (don't worry the soup will cook it!).
Gently pour boiling hot soup over the top of the noodles.
On the side serve bean shoots, herbs, chilli, sauces and lime wedges to go on top.
If you have some of those yummy pickled onion slices or chilli and lemongrass in oil then go right ahead and include that too!
There aren't too many rules about how many bean shoots, herbs and sauces you have to have in your soup, I think this is up to each individuals taste. I prefer mine extremely spicy where my partner prefers it milder to appreciate that velvety beef broth.
The only rule is that you'll certainly end up with Pho splashed all over you from slurping your noodles in delight!
The story behind this recipePho is ubiquitous within the area of Melbourne that I live. You can barely walk three shops down main street of Footscray without passing a restaurant or two, each with their own individual take on Pho Bo (Beef) or Ga (Chicken). It was on a trip to Vietnam however, that I really began to appreciate the dish that is such a staple of Vietnamese cuisine. Three years ago, my partner and I travelled from the North to the South of Vietnam, spending much of our time being led by our noses and stomachs.
I’ll never forget the first bowl I had. It was amidst the hustle and bustle of morning peak hour in Hanoi. A little old lady was serving up boiling hot bowls of soup to locals for breakfast. We sat in an alley on tiny plastic chairs, slurping what appeared to be pork Pho with delight. It was so fresh, so fragrant and so gosh darn cheap! I marvelled at how something so tasty could cost so little. It was clear that this broth was made from far more than only a few ingredients.
By the time we arrived in the south at Ho Chi Minh we’d tasted countless bowls, each with their own variety and flair. I simply had to learn to make my own version of the “best Pho” at home.
I’ve tried many different versions. From mimicking local restaurant versions, trialling online recipes, seeking advice from locals and friends (the butcher at Footscray market is a gem of information!) and having my fair share of fails. The one constant that keeps me on a mission to perfect my version of Pho is the luxuriously fragrant smell that takes over my house for three days after cooking up a pot of the stock.
It’s a smell that awakens memories of trekking through Vietnam and enjoying a bowl of 30 cent goodness wherever we stopped. It’s a little reminder that sometimes the most wonderful tastes in life can come from a street food vendor instead of a michelin star restaurant. It takes me back to sitting on those little plastic chairs enjoying one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my entire life.
