It took me a little while to jump on the Pho bandwagon – but once I did, I was totally hooked! My uni friends actually introduced me to the wonderful world of Pho. We loved it so much that we had a super cool Pho Club happening where we would try out a new restaurant each month until they all (literally all 5 of my uni friends) either moved away or had babies :-(.
I did overdo it though, and had to have a couple of pho-free years, but my appetite for it is back! And since our Pho Club doesn’t exist anymore, I thought I would have a go at making it myself! And it is surprisingly easy – you just have to do it on a weekend when you’re home to man (or woman?) the stock for 6 hours. I don’t trust my lop-sided stove enough to leave it on during the day when nobody is home!
The key to a good pho is getting the balance right with the stock. I had a play around with this recipe and finally got the flavours right (according to my palate anyway - I'm open to feedback!).
I hope you like it too!
INGREDIENTS:
- 600g beef bones
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 4 star anise
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 2 teaspoons salt (this is less than the traditional method but still tastes great! You can always add more at the end. Better too little than too much)
- 3 baby onions
- 3 cloves
- 3cm ginger, peeled
- 1tsp sugar
- 4L water
- 300g sirloin or porterhouse steak, very thinly sliced
- 300g flat rice noodles
- 1 packet bean shoots
- 1 bunch fresh coriander
- 1 bunch thai basil
- 2 red chillies, thinly sliced
METHOD:
1. First roast the bones in the oven for an hour at 180 degrees celsius.
2. Place a large stock pot over medium heat and add the cooked bones, onions, fish sauce, star anise, cinnamon, salt, cloves and ginger and stir for a few minutes or until fragrant. Add the water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer uncovered for 6 hours. Remove from heat and pour through a fine sieve.
3. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions
4. Place 1 cup of cooked noodles and 100g beef strips in a serving bowl. Pour enough hot stock in the bowl to cover the noodles and beef. Let the bowl stand for 5 minutes or until the beef is cooked to your liking.
5. Top with the fresh herbs, chilli and bean shoots.
YUM!!
