Quick Vietnamese Pork Noodle Soup - Pho

This iconic Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup or Pho Bo is probably one of the most well-known noodles to come from Vietnam. It features succulent prok slices on top of the pho or noodles, together with some wonderfully fresh veggies and herbs that bring a fresh balance to the tasty and nutritious soup. The exact history of these noodles is not certain, as beef is not commonly part of Vietnamese cuisine. Some people believe that it was probably a fusion dish, influenced by the French colonialists. However, the Pho Bo is considered one of Vietnam's sacred national dishes.

This is my reciepe for a fast (20 minutes of preperation) using beef base paste.

Ingredients

• • 4 Tablespoons Beef Base Paste

  • 1 ginger root, 6 inch long

  • 1 peeled large onion

  • 4 star anise

  • 6 cloves

  • 1 cinnamon stick, 4 inch long

  • 2 Tbsp fish sauce

  • 1 rock sugar, 1 inch or 1 tsp sugar

  • 1 Tbsp ground peppercorn

  • 10 cups water

  • 1 lb chinese BBQ Pork (from Grocery Store Deli)

  • 8 oz dried banh pho noodles

  • 1 thinly sliced medium onion, soaked in water for 20 minutes,

  • 4 cups bean sprouts

  • 6 Mint leaves

  • 6 Basil leaves

  • Sliced Thai Chillies

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Preparation

• • Crush the ginger with a pestle and mortar, leaving it in one piece. The back of a big knife will do the job just as well. Grill the ginger and onion in the bottom of a large poit until they turn slightly brown and smell fragrant.

  • Add the Beef base paste and the 10 cups of water to the pot, bring to a boil making sure that the paste disovles.

  • Add the star anise, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorn into the stock. Keep simmering the stock and add the noodles and boil for for about 5 minutes, until just cooked. 

  • Add the fish sauce, salt and sugar into the stock. Adjust the taste to your liking by varying the amounts of these ingredients. Bear in mind that the noodles will reduce the saltiness of the soup, notice that we didn't add salt -- there is enough in the beef base.

  • In a bowl, pour the boiling soup into the bowl with some noodles, add slices of BBQ pork on top.  On the side serve a few basil and mint leves, sliced Thai cillies,and the bean sprouts.