Pho Recipe
There are many techniques on how to make a good pho bo (bo = beef). My mum has given me her recipe and after watching countless videos across YouTube I’ve come up with my own:
Broth ingredients
2kgs of oxtail (beef bones are fine as well, but I prefer oxtail as it has more depth of flavour)
1 x onion
2 x shallots
4 x knuckles of ginger
5L of water
Sugar (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Fish sauce (to taste)
Bowl ingredients
1kg rump steak
Coriander
Thai basil (normal sweet basil will also do)
Spring onions
1 x onion
Pho rice noodle sticks
Lemon or limes
Bean sprouts
Fresh chilli (optional)
Sirracha chilli sauce (optional)
Hoison sauce (optional)
The aroma (spices)
3 x Star anise
3 x Cardamom
3 x Cinnamon sticks
Coriander seeds
Fennel seeds
Instructions
- Start off by par boiling the bones/ox tail for 5-10 minutes. Once this is done, rinse the bones and place into another pot of boiling water. This step is to help clarify the broth by removing any impurities. Add 2 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp sugar. Let this simmer away on a medium heat.
- Slice the onion and shallots in half, peel the ginger and roast for 10 minutes. Traditionally this is done over an open flame (i.e. gas). Add directly into the simmering pot. Cook time: at least 5 hours if you can. You’ll find that you may need to add more water (as it reduces) and add more salt, sugar and fish sauce – to taste.
- Next, place the star anise, cardamom, cinnamon sticks (break in half), fennel seeds and coriander seeds into a frying pan on a medium heat. This should take no more than 10 minutes – careful not to burn the spices – you want to fry them off just enough to release a nice aroma. Place into a muslin bag (or cheesecloth bag) and then add into the broth.
- While the broth is doing its thing, start prepping all the other ingredients:- (i) the rump steak will need to be sliced paper thing – the idea is that the broth – once poured into the bowl, cooks the beef, (ii) slice the onion and then place into cold water (the raw onion will add a nice crunch to the soup), (iii) chop up the spring onions then set aside, (iv) slice the lemon or limes into wedges – set aside, (v) dice up the fresh chilli and set aside, (vi) follow instructions on the pack of pho rice noodles (should take about 10-12 minutes on high heat) – rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process, (vii) the sirracha chilli and hoison sauce can go into a small saucer and used as a dipping sauce for the beef, (viii) the bean sprouts can be blanched in hot water and then set aside.
- The assembly: in a bowl – add rice noodles, bean sprouts, onion, beef, spring onions, coriander, basil, fresh chili (optional), then ladle the broth over the top – it should be hot enough (and the beef thin enough) that it’ll cook the beef instantly.
