Pho (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

This dish was the first "off-the-wall" dish I ever made and it's so easy.  It helped me venture into other ethnic foods I had never tried making before.  This dish is meant to be eaten with chopsticks and by sipping the broth from the side of the bowl. It needs to be a large bowl - a normal American soup bowl won't cut it.

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

  - 2 tsp vegetable oil

  - 1 medium organic white onion, peeled and quartered

  - 1 2" piece of ginger, peeled and rough chop

  - 1 tsp of Five Spice Powder (easily found in spice area of grocery store)

  - 6 cups of beef broth (preferrably homemade)

  - 1 1/2 tbsp of Asian fish sauce, common now in ethnic foods in normal grocery stores

  - 1 1/2 tsp sugar

  - fresh ground black pepper

  - 1 package of rice noodles, I use the brand Maifun which are the best size and texture

  - 1 small white onion sliced very thin in rings

  -  8 oz of flank steak, very thinly sliced into bite size pieces (it's easiest to cut thin slices if the steak is placed in the freezer for 15-30 minutes before cutting)

Condiments:

  - Cilantro leaves

  - Mung bean sprouts

  - Chopped scallions white and green parts

  - Serrano chilis, thinly sliced with seeds

  - Lime cut into wedges

  - Sriracha chili sauce (aka rooster sauce)

  - Hoisin Sauce (found in ethnic aisle of grocer)

Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium. Allow the pot to get good and hot but not smoking with the oil.  Place the onion and ginger in the pot, be careful of the oil splattering.  Saute for 5 minutes until the onions are lightly browned.  Add the spice powder and stir for 30 seconds or until fragrant.  Pour in the broth and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  While the broth is cooking place the noodles in a bowl of luke warm water to soak - Rice noodles are so delicate they rarely need to be boiled like semolina noodles.  Strain the broth removing the onion and ginger and place the broth back in the pot (you can also use a handled sifter to extract the onion and ginger since they are in large pieces). Throw the onion and ginger away or in your composter.  Add the fish sauce, sugar and black pepper to the broth and keep warm on low. 

In each serving bowl place equal parts of the noodles that have been drained (they should be fairly flexible by now), steak, rings of onion and serrano chili's if desired (the chili's can be added afterward and will not be as spicy later).  Bring the broth back up to a rolling boil and pour equal parts of the broth over each soup bowl - the broth is very hot and the meat thin so the meat will cook as the boiling broth covers it.

Each person can now add the cilantro, sriracha, hoisin sauce, scallions and lime as they prefer.  Grab your chopsticks and enjoy.