Easy Vietnamese Pho Noodle Soup

We love pho, but I’ve never made it at home. Mostly because I thought there was probably 50 ingredients in it and it takes 3 days to make! I’m just exaggerating, but I was intimidated. I did mess the dish up a little. I just put the whole package of noodles in and it was double the amount, so it sucked up ALL the liquid. It was more of a pasta than a soup, but it was still delicious! Great light and refreshing meal with the added mint. Can’t wait to make it again when it gets cooler.

Easy Vietnamese Pho Noodle Soup

(Adapted from Omnivore’s Cookbook)

 

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Broth
4 cups Asian beef stock (*see footnote 1)
1 big slice ginger
1 whole star anise
3 cloves
1 teaspoon light soy sauce (or soy sauce)
2 teaspoons fish sauce

To serve
200 grams raw beef short ribs (or sirloin steak, or tenderloin) (*see footnote 2)
150 grams (5 ounces) dried rice noodles
2 green onions (green part)
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup fresh herbs (mix of cilantro, basil, and/or mint)
Sriracha and hoisin sauce (or homemade hoisin sauce)

 

Combine beef stock, ginger, star anise, and cloves in a pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Turn to medium low heat. Add ginger, star anise, cloves, light soy sauce, and fish sauce. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Use a slotted spoon to remove all the solid ingredients and discard them. Return soup to the stove, cover, and heat over the lowest heat needed to keep it hot. If you have leftover cooked beef, you can add it into the broth now to reheat it.

 

While boiling the soup, slice the raw beef against grain into thin slices. You can freeze the beef briefly, about 10 minutes, so it will be easier to slice. Prep and cut veggies and set them aside.

Ten minutes before the beef broth is ready, bring another pot of water to a boil. Add rice noodles and cook (or soak) according to instructions, or until tender. It usually takes 3 to 8 minutes, depending on the type of noodles. I also messed up by just cooking the noodles in the soup instead of water.

Rinse with tap water and drain. Divide the noodles among the serving bowls.

Top beef slices, without overlapping, on the rice noodles and pour the soup over them, to quickly cook the beef. If you want the beef to be cooked more thoroughly, lightly press them into the soup to heat evenly.

Garnish with bean sprouts and herbs.

Serve immediately with lime wedges, Sriracha sauce and hoisin sauce.

NOTES
1. If you boiled down your beef stock previously, you’ll need to add water to dilute it. The amount of water will depend on how concentrated your stock is. You can start by reheating the stock to bring it back to liquid form, taste it, and adjust the strength by adding water.
If you don’t have any homemade Asian beef stock on hand, you can use store-bought beef broth instead. To make the broth taste more intense, you can refer to this recipe.

2. If you have leftover braised beef from making the beef stock, you can reheat it with the soup after discarding the aromatics, and serve the beef and soup together.