Vietnamese Pho

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

So what is Vietnamese Pho? Well, it’s like the most insanely delicious noodle soup popular in Vietnam. The broth is simmered for hours and hours . Other accompaniments include ribbons of rice noodles, fresh herbs like cilantro or basil, a wedge of lime or lemon, fresh bean sprouts and fresh sliced chilies if desired. I think I had a version of it in a vietnamese restaurant on a recent trip to Vegas and really liked the clean and pure taste of the Pho.

What makes Pho so different than any other type of noodle soup is the spices that go into the simmering broth. Warm spices like coriander, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fresh ginger transform an ordinary broth into a very authentic Vietnamese Pho.

I did make the long version i.e making home made stock albeit the vegetarian version including onion , celery and carrot in olive oil with the spices mentioned above.

Sauteed small pieces of tofu and mushrooms in a little oil and added to the broth. Served with rice noodles,coriander,lime and chilli sauce. A warmth-inducing evening meal !

I didn't try the wantons as we are getting a bit too frequent on desserts around our part of the world.. keeping for a later day..