I've now made these recipes twice - once on a cooking Zoom with a friend-of-a-friend, and once last Friday with five of my friends. I keep tweaking things to streamline, but this is an amazingly delicious recipe. Make it!
Vietnamese Pho Soup
Serves 6 people
PHO BROTH INGREDIENTS: Extra broth can be saved and frozen.
· 2 large Walla Walla sweet onions, peeled and halved
· 2, 3-inch pieces of fresh ginger root, peeled and cut into halves
· 3-4 tsp star anise or fennel seeds, toasted (OR 3-4 tsp ground anise or fennel powder)
· 6 whole cloves (OR ½ tsp ground cloves)
· 3-5, 3 inch cinnamon sticks (OR 2 to 2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon)
· 3-4 cardamom pods (OR couple pinches of ground cardamom)
· 1 ½ tablespoons whole coriander seeds (OR 3 tsp ground coriander)
· 12 cups good-quality beef, chicken or vegetable stock (this is 3 boxes of 32 fl oz stock)
· 1 ½ tablespoon brown sugar (optional - I leave it out)
· 3 teaspoons fish sauce (optional, but delicious – tamari or soy sauce for vegan)
· 1 teaspoon Sriracha (or red curry paste) – (optional)
· Sea salt, to taste
PHO SOUP INGREDIENTS (substitute with your favorites):
· 12-15 oz UNCOOKED steak, chicken or pork, very thinly sliced (while still very cold/partially frozen) OR 1” cubes of FIRM tofu
· 8-12 oz UNCOOKED thin rice noodles or other flat noodle (Shirataki or Miracle Noodles perfect an easy)
· 1 medium sweet onion, very thinly sliced (or green onions)
· Bean sprouts
· Lime wedges
· Handful of fresh herbs (cilantro, mint, and/or Thai basil)
· Thinly-sliced jalapeno chiles
· Sriracha sauce
Prep the protein in one of two ways. Either remove your meat from the freezer (to fridge) a couple hours ahead of time to let it defrost slightly OR put fresh meat into the freezer for 30-60 minutes before you are going to use it so it will freeze slightly and be easier to slice. Both ways will allow your meat to be partially frozen and make it easy to thinly slice before adding it to the broth.
Make the broth. Turn your oven broiler onto HIGH. Place the baking rack about 8 inches away from the heating element. Broil that onion halves and ginger chunks for about 7-10 minutes, under broiler until the tops of the onion and ginger are slightly charred. Then remove and set aside.
While the onion and ginger are broiling, briefly heat the spices (whole or ground) on medium heat in a LARGE stockpot for about 2-3 minutes until fragrant (toasting brings out their flavor). Stire them occasionally so they don't burn. After toasting the spices, add the charred onion, ginger and broth to your stockpot and stir well.
If you are using curry paste or Sriracha, measure out your curry paste into a very small bowl, add 2-3 Tbsp of broth to it and whisk well. Add this liquid to the broth.
Cover and let this mixture come to a simmering boil. Then turn down the heat a bit to medium low and let everything simmer together for at least 30 minutes so the flavors blend well. Next, strain out and discard the onion and ginger root pieces and spices. Then stir in the fish sauce, salt, and (optional) brown sugar. Taste your broth for good flavor and add more salt/spice if needed.
Prep the noodles. Meanwhile, as your broth is simmering, cook the noodles al dente according to the package instructions. Drain in a strainer, then toss briefly with cold water to prevent the noodles from continuing to cook. Put them back into your cooking pot, add a little oil to prevent them from all sticking together and set aside.
Prepare the vegetables and garnishes.
Chop up your fresh onion, herbs, cut your lime wedges and your jalapenos into slices if desired.
Assemble the bowls. Just before assembling the bowls, add your thinly sliced meat to the hot simmering broth and stir well. Make sure the meat slices all get cooked thoroughly.
Note: If you are using tofu, make sure it is drained and cubed ahead of time. Then add it into the broth now so it can heat up for a few minutes.
Add a handful of noodles to each individual serving bowl, top this with your slivered onions, and finally add ladles of your meat or tofu and the hot broth into the serving bowls. Top with fresh herbs, lime wedges and jalapeno slices if desired.
Recipe adapted from https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/pho-recipe/ & Andrea Roelen, Hummingbird Kitchen
Vietnamese Cabbage, Jicama and Pear Salad Serves about 4-6 people
SALAD INGREDIENTS (substitute as desired - this is also great with just chopped cabin and arugula):
½ Walla Walla sweet onion, diced
2 cups purple or green cabbage, roughly chopped
1 tart apple (Granny Smith or Cripps Pink are great), cored and julienned
2 cups jicama, grated (or subbed diced/julienned daikon radish)
1 large carrot, grated
1 firm pear, cored and julienned
¼ cup mint leaves, finely chopped
¼ cup toasted peanuts, lightly crushed for garnish (optional)
Chop up the onion, cabbage, apple, jicama, carrot, pear and mint leaves and add to a large bowl. Set aside. Toast peanuts in a dry skillet for a few minutes until golden brown. Roughly chop them up and use them later as a salad topping garnish.
DRESSING INGREDIENTS:
4 Tbsp canola or avocado oil
¼ cup onion, finely minced
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4-1/2 tsp. powdered ginger (or to taste)
1 Tbsp. Sriracha sauce (or more to taste)
4 T fish sauce (tamari, soy sauce or liquid aminos if vegan)
¼ cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
2 Tbsp sugar, depending on desired sweetness (optional – I don’t use any sugar)
Add the onions, garlic, ginger and Sriracha to a small mixing bowl. Add the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar (optional - and it is perfection without it, so why add sugar?). If adding, whisk well until sugar dissolves thoroughly into the dressing.
Add the dressing to the salad ingredients and mix very well. Taste and add salt if needed to bring out the flavors. Serve into portions and top with crushed peanuts. This dressing keeps well in the refrigerator for a couple weeks.
Recipe adapted from Vietnamese Table, PCC Cooks
No comments:
Post a Comment