I’m blog hopping again with McKlinky and this tuesdays’s theme is Favorite Recipe or Dish. Well, I don’t cook! There I said it! But trust me when I say, you would NOT want me to! Timmy does all the cooking and he’s quite amazing at it! Therefore, I am posting my favorite dish that he makes. Timmy is from Vietnam and one of their most famous meals is Pho (Vietnamese Beef & Rice-Noodle Soup.) We eat it at this one restaurant in town once a week but Timmy makes it alot at home as well! I actually like his a little bit better b/c he doesn’t cook it with alot of MSG or fat! Unfortunately, Timmy can’t tell me how he makes it so I am attaching a recipe from food network that will suffice and give you the same results. Trust me when I say it is amazing!!!
Vietnamese Pho: Beef Noodle Soup Recipe
Adapted from my favorite Vietnamese cookbook: 
Into the Vietnamese Kitchen serves 8
Sometimes, I omit the 1lb of beef meat in the broth (you’ll see I’ve made it optional) - as I’ve found that as long as I have good bones, the broth will have enough flavor to not need the extra beef meat.
THE BROTH 2 onions, halved 4″ nub of ginger, halved lengthwise 5-6 lbs of good beef bones, preferably leg and knuckle 1 lb of beef meat - chuck, brisket, rump, cut into large slices [optional] 6 quarts of water 1 package of Pho Spices [1 cinnamon stick, 1 tbl coriander seeds, 1 tbl fennel seeds, 5 star anise, 1 cardamom pod, 6 whole cloves - in mesh bag] 1 1/2 tbl salt 1/4 cup fish sauce 1 inch chunk of yellow rock sugar (about 1 oz) - or 1oz of regular sugar
THE BOWLS 2 lbs rice noodles (dried or fresh) cooked beef from the broth 1/2 lb flank, london broil, sirloin or eye of round, sliced as thin as possible. big handful of each: mint, cilantro, basil 2 limes, cut into wedges 2-3 chili peppers, sliced 2 big handfuls of bean sprouts Hoisin sauce Cock sauce (Sriracha)
Char: Turn your broiler on high and move rack to the highest spot. Place ginger and onions on baking sheet. Brush just a bit of cooking oil on the cut side of each. Broil on high until ginger and onions begin to char. Turn over and continue to char. This should take a total of 10-15 minutes.
Parboil the bones: Fill large pot (12-qt capacity) with cool water. Boil water, and then add the bones, keeping the heat on high. Boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse the bones and rinse out the pot. Refill pot with bones and 6 qts of cool water. Bring to boil over high heat and lower to simmer. Using a ladle or a fine mesh strainer, remove any scum that rises to the top.
Boil broth: Add ginger, onion, spice packet, beef, sugar, fish sauce, salt and simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the beef meat and set aside (you’ll be eating this meat later in the bowls) Continue simmering for another 1 1/2 hours. Strain broth and return the broth to the pot. Taste broth and adjust seasoning - if you want a little more flavor, add a few dashes more of fish sauce, large pinch of salt and a small nugget of rock sugar (or large pinch of regular sugar).
Prepare noodles & meat: Slice your flank/london broil/sirloin as thin as possible - try freezing for 15 minutes prior to slicing to make it easier. Remember the cooked beef meat that was part of your broth? Cut or shred the meat and set aside. Arrange all other ingredients on a platter for the table. Your guests will “assemble” their own bowls. Follow the directions on your package of noodles - there are many different sizes and widths of rice noodles, so make sure you read the directions. For some fresh rice noodles, just a quick 5 second blanch in hot water is all that’s needed. The package that I purchased (above) - needed about 45 seconds in boiling water.
Ladling: Bring your broth back to a boil. Line up your soup bowls next to the stove. Fill each bowl with rice noodles, shredded cooked beef and raw meat slices. As soon as the broth comes back to a boil, ladle into each bowl. the hot broth will cook your raw beef slices. Serve immediately. Guests can garnish their own bowls as they wish.
These sauces are great for dipping your meat into and even putting alittle of each into the soup and mixing it all up. The garnish also goes into the bowl! This is some GOOD stuff!!!
