I grew up having Nilagang Baka (Filipino beef soup with vegetables) for Christmas. Cooking this Pho Bo or Hanoi Beef Noodle Soup for our pre-Christmas dinner was a nice alternative without veering too far away from what my family and I are used to. Soups are particularly heartwarming during the Christmas season because of the relatively cool weather in the Philippines. But, it was particularly warm this past Christmas. Still, we enjoyed our Pho Bo.
According to my reference recipe, Pho Bo (and perhaps Pho Ga (chicken)) may well be considered to be Vietnam’s national dish. It’s eaten any time of the day, but is most popular as breakfast food. Making Pho Bo is convenient since it can be prepared ahead of time. The ingredients can be stored separately, the broth in one container, and the vegetables in others. And, the rice noodles cook fast.
Cooking this dish brings back fond memories of my Mom and I frolicking in Hanoi, and enjoying the Phos. We saw sellers from establishments to individuals carrying their Pho setting up temporarily on the sidewalk. Some diners were seated on chairs, while others on stools. I was interested to try those small and temporary sellers with stools. Mom, who was at first reluctant (perhaps doubting the sanitation) eventually joined in. Later I conceded and we had several meals at a what looked like a fast-food chain that sold Phos.
The locals’ pronunciation of Pho sounded like “faaaah” with an airy “ah” to our ears. Merriam-Webster Dictionary says that Pho means a soup made of beef or chicken broth and rice noodles.
INGREDIENTS
300 grams dried rice stick noodles or rice vermicelli
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 medium onions, slice thinly
4 cups (200 grams) bean sprouts, remove seed coats and tails, and blanch until cooked
2 to 3 finger-length chilis, deseed and slice
ground white pepper
sprigs of kinchay (Chinese celery) to garnish (the recipe called for coriander (cilantro) leaves but only kinchay was available)*
sprigs of basil or mint to garnish
2 lemons or limes, cut into sections to serve
1 portion fish sauce dip**
Broth
2 medium onions, peel and bruise
2 inches (5 cm) fresh ginger root, peel and bruise
3 shallots
10 cups (2 ½ liters) beef stock [or 4 t 5 stock cubes dissolved in 10 cups (2 ½ liters) hot water]
500 grams beef shank or brisket
2 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns
1 tablespoon salt
Serves 6 to 8
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: Broth 3 hours (with pressure cooker, this could be shortened to about 45 minutes); noodles 2–5 minutes, or check the instruction on the packaging on how long to cook.
PROCEDURES
Prepare the Beef Broth
- On a pan over low heat, dry-fry the onions, shallots, and ginger for 5 to 10 minutes or until they are slightly burned on all sides. Remove and transfer to a stockpot.
- Add all other ingredients for the broth, and bring them to a boil over medium heat. Skim off the foam and fat that float to the surface. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the beef is tender. Depending on how young the beef, simmering it until tender can take from one to three hours. Since I wanted it really soft, my cooking time for the beef took three hours. This could be significantly shortened to about 45 minutes if pressure cooker will be used. But, I wanted a really tasty broth, so I did slow cooking.
- When the beef is tender and cooked, 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. Keep the broth hot over low heat.
Prepare the Beef Noodle Soup
- Bring a pot of water to a boil, then adjust to medium heat. Add the dried noodles and blanch until soft. Make sure to read the instructions on how to cook the noodles, and note how many minutes it’ll take for the noodles to cook. Usually, rice stick noodles take 5 minutes to cook, and rice vermicelli 2 minutes. Remove the noodles from the boiling water, rinse them with cold water, drain, then set aside.
- When the set aside beef (from the broth) has cooled, slice the beef into thin slices and set aside.
- To serve, place the rice noodles into individual serving bowls and top with slices of beef, onion slices, bean sprouts, and chilis. Ladle the hot broth into each bowl, sprinkle with pepper, and garnish with kinchay and basil or mint leaves. Serve hot with slices of lemon or lime and dipping bowls of fish sauce dip on the side.
**Prepare the Fish Sauce Dip (Nuoc Cham)
You can prepare this while waiting for the beef in the broth to become tender. This dip can also be used for fried fish, and fresh spring rolls.
2 to 3 finger-length chilis, deseed and slice
3 cloves garlic
¼ cup (50 grams) sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (the recipe called for lime but only lemon was available)
1 tablespoon vinegar
3 tablespoons fish sauce
½ cup (125 ml) water
½ teaspoon salt
Grind the chilis and garlic to a coarse paste in a mortar or blender. Combine all the other ingredients in a small bowl and mix until the sugar is dissolved.
This fish sauce recipe yields 1 cup (250 ml). Preparation time: 10 minutes.
Reference:
Nongkran Daks, Alexander Greeley, and Wendy Hutton. 2005. Vietnamese Cooking Made Easy: Simple, Flavorful and Quick Meals. Malaysia: Periplus Editions.
Notes:
*If you find it challenging to differentiate among cilantro, coriander, wansoy, kinchay, and parsley, Yummy.ph has an article differentiating them, This is How You Can Tell the Difference between Wansoy, Kinchay, and Flat-leaf Parsley by Rachelle Santos written in 2018.
**Recipe of Fish Dip Sauce is available above.
Lyndree's Kitchenomics 