Homestyle Vietnamese Cooking by Nongkran Daks & Alexandra Greeley

Author:Nongkran Daks & Alexandra Greeley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7946-0650-3
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Hanoi Beef Noodle Soup (Pho Bo)

This may well be considered Vietnam's national dish. The Vietnamese eat it at any time of the day, but it is especially popular as a breakfast food. What makes this soup so convenient is that you can cook it ahead of time, storing the stock in one container and the remaining ingredients in another.

300 g (10 oz) dried rice stick noodles or rice vermicelli

3 tablespoons fish sauce

500 g (1 lb) beef sirloin or flank steak, cut into very thin slices

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

200 g (4 cups) bean sprouts, seed coats and tails removed, blanched until cooked

2 to 3 finger-length chilies, deseeded and sliced

Ground white pepper

Sprigs of coriander leaves (cilantro), to garnish

Sprigs of basil or mint leaves, to garnish

2 lemons or limes, cut into sections, to serve

1 portion Fish Sauce Dip (page 6)

Broth

2 medium onions, peeled and bruised

5 cm (2 in) fresh ginger root, peeled and bruised

3 shallots

2½ liters (10 cups) beef stock or 4 to 5 stock cubes dissolved in 12½ liters (10 cups) hot water

500 g (1 lb) beef shank or brisket

2 star anise pods

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns

1 tablespoon salt

1 Prepare the Broth first by browning the onions, ginger and shallots under a broiler for 5 to 10 minutes, turning several times, or dry-frying them in a skillet over low heat until slightly burnt on all sides. Remove and transfer to a stockpot. Add all the other Broth ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat, skimming off the foam and fat that float to the surface. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, until the beef is tender.

2 Prepare the Fish Sauce Dip by following the recipe on page 6.

3 Bring a pot of water to a boil over medium heat. Add the dried noodles and blanch until soft, about 5 minutes for rice stick noodles or 2 minutes for rice vermicelli. Remove and rinse with cold water, then drain.

4 Remove the beef from the Broth and set aside to cool. Strain the Broth to remove all the solids and return the clear Broth to the pot. Season with the fish sauce and keep the Broth hot over very low heat. Slice the beef into thin slices and set aside.

5 To serve, place the rice noodles into individual serving bowls and top with the cooked and raw beef slices, onion slices, bean sprouts and chili. Ladle the hot Broth into each bowl (the raw beef will partially cook in the boiling soup), sprinkle with pepper and garnish with coriander (cilantro) and basil or mint leaves. Serve hot with lemon or lime sections, and dipping bowls of Fish Sauce Dip on the side.

Serves 6 to 8

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 1¼ hours

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