I have had Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) from several restaurants around Columbus, and have never been that impressed. Sure, I love chicken broth with rice noodles and stuff in it, but the flavor never really kicked it for me. I have also had Pho that just tasted too weird, with one flavor dominating, like, for example, holy basil.
My wife made a simple Pho a while back, which was really good, but I wanted to kick the flavors up. My first attempt was good, and so was the second, and the third. Each time I was playing with ingredients, and I think I’m getting this down. Each time I make it I’m pulling things out of the refrigerator that we simply have around. I believe we call these leftovers, like a single T-bone steak in the fridge (what else are you going to do with that, except munch on it late at night?), or a bone-in pork chop. The one meat base that I use more often than anything is shrimp.
Let me share my recipe, and you can decide if it’s worth it.
About some of the ingredients
For a lot of these ingredients you will probably need an Asian market nearby, or you might find them in your local grocery. I have thoughts about some of them, that may help you decide where to get them.
Bok Choy
The best part of the bok choy is the leaf. It absorbs flavors and heat beautifully. A lot of bok choy and baby bok choy in the regular supermarket is mostly stem. At my local Saraga store, there is lovely baby bok choy that is very leafy, and works the best. Asian grocers will also have much better bok choy, and probably fresher.
Banh Pho (Vietnamese rice noodles)
Most Asian markets have several brands of good quality. I prefer the thinner noodles (linguine or fettuccine size) to the thick ones. The thick ones don’t slurp as nicely, and they clump together more readily. I find the linguine thickness is just right for pho.
Spices
For spice I use coriander, white and black pepper. I prefer to take the whole seeds of the coriander and whole peppercorns and grind them together into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle. You can also roast these before grinding them. Put them all on a dry iron skillet and turn up the heat. When you can smell them, they’re ready.
Ginger
Powdered ginger is a no-no. Get really fresh ginger at an Asian/International market. I know that your supermarket has ginger, but it’s already dried out. The way you can tell really fresh ginger is that the skin is smooth, not desiccated, and the flesh is yellow and looks almost wet. By the way, the best way to peel ginger is with the edge of a spoon, not with a knife. I did this the wrong way for years.
The Recipe
This recipe will feed six hungry people. Since we have four in our house, we have to fight over who’s taking the leftovers the next day.
- 1 package banh pho (rice noodles)
- 48 oz. chicken broth (about a box and a half)
- about 6-8 cups of bok choy (I also use nappa sometimes)
- 1 – 1 1/2 lbs of shrimp
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp (or more to taste) minced fresh ginger
- 1 tsp coriander seeds, ground up
- 1/2 – 1 tsp white peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp chili garlic (sambal oelek)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (I use San J Tamari Gluten-Free Soy Sauce)
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce (optional, I’m not sure it helps)
- about 4-5 scallions, cut up
- (optional: slices of jalapeno, or your choice of chili)
- (optional: cilantro for garnish)
Instructions
This should take about 30 minutes, depending on your prep and how fast you like to move around the kitchen.
- In a pot, boil enough water to cover the rice noodles.
- Get your ingredients ready while that boils. Cut the bok choy, peel the shrimp if you prefer, slice up that leftover steak, grind up your spices, etc.
- Pour the 2 tbsp of sesame oil in a large pot. I use an iron/ceramic dutch oven for this. Once it shimmers, add the 2 tsp of chili garlic and stir. Add the freshly ground spices and ginger to it, and reduce your heat to medium.
- If your water is ready, add the noodles to the boiling water. They should take around 8 minutes to cook, so set a timer; you’ll be busy, and you want them to come out of the boiling water once they’re ready.
- Pour the chicken broth in to the pot with the oil/spice mix, give it a stir. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce and hoisin and bring it back to a near boil, stirring occasionally.
- Once it’s starting to bubble, add the bok choy and the shrimp, any other meat, and the (optional) jalapeno.
- When the rice noodles are ready, pour them into a colander and hit them with cold water. You want to stop them from cooking further, or they will fall apart.
- Simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes. The shrimp should turn pink.
- Sprinkle at the last minute with cilantro
- Serve by putting some noodles in a bowl, and adding the mixture with some broth over the chilled noodles. They will warm up just fine.
Enjoy! Let me know what you think!
Brian
