Pho Noodle Soup

We love pho noodle , but it has been months since we had it . To be exact it’s probably been 7 months , and since we haven’t been eating out since the lockdown , we decided , if we can’t go to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant for pho noodle soup , i supposed i can learn how to make it and bring it to our own dinner table . After all , it shouldn’t be too hard to make , although i was told before it takes hours to make the good broth . And it was , it was about 5 hours or so .

The Asian market would be a good start to find the ingredients , as you need all the spices . If you have a vast selection of spices , you might not even need to make a trip to Asian market . But otherwise , the market has Pho Noodle Spice Packet that you can just buy , incase you don’t have all these spices on hand . I like to use this brand if you choose to buy the packet .

You also need short beef ribs , and meatballs if you want to . You can buy frozen beef meatballs they have at Asian Market . Of course you can always opt not to use the meatballs , the short ribs however is a must to make the broth . To make this broth you will need a big pot , the ones usually used to make tamale would work , you’ll need to use this large pot because it will hold a lot of water and with hours of cooking , you’ll end up with half of what you started .

You can serve this with shredded beef short ribs from the broth , beef meatballs , which you can buy frozen , beansprouts , thai basil leaves , lime , hoisin sauce and hot sauce on the side .

Ingredients :

• 1 large onion , cut in half
• 3 inches of fresh ginger , peeled and cut in chunks
• pho noodle spice packet
• 1.5 lbs beef short ribs
• water
• fish sauce
• sugar rock candy , otherwise just use regular sugar

Direction :

• Roast the ginger and onion in the oven about 20 minutes at 375 F .
• Roast the spices on a skillet ( or you can skip this step )
• In a large pot , place the beef ( rinse before you place this in the pot ) , add the water , just half way . Bring to boil for about 15 minutes . Take the water out and rinse the beef . ( yes do this , to get rid of all the foam that happened the first 15-20 minutes of boiling )
• Replace the water in the pot with clean water , add rinsed beef ribs back into the pot , along with spices and ginger , onion . Fill up the water almost to the top of the pot . Make sure to use the little pouch that comes with the packet , if you use your own spices , i use the tea infuser , that way all the small seeds don’t float around and you won’t end up having to strain them all at the end of cooking . You could strain them but that would be double the work . We don’t want double the work , we just want to eat it ! 😀
• Bring to boil , then turn it down to low heat , don’t cover the lid . Just let it slow boil for a good 5 hours to develop the flavor . When it’s almost done , add about 2-3 tbsp of fish sauce , maybe about 1 small rock sugar candy , or 2 tbsp sugar , probably more , just adjust the flavoring at the end .
• Shred the beef , and if using meatballs , just drop the balls into the pot of broth . Cook the rice vermicelli noodles according to package direction .
• Serve with rice vermicelli noodles ( size small ) , add the broth , shredded beef and meatballs if using . Add thinly sliced onion , with thai basil on the side and jalapeno if you want . Hoisin sauce and hot sauce are optional . I like mine a little spicy and little sweet .