Hi, I'm Rich Harris, and welcome back to another episode in my Asian bites series for Videojug.
In this episode I'm showing you one of the best soups in the world.
It is the national dish of Vietnam, it's Pho.
It is full of flavor, it is full of texture, and it is absolutely delicious.
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So the first thing we need to do is heat our stock up, and a lot of love and attention
has gone into making this.
It's got roasted beef bones, onions, ginger, garlic, loads of spices, loads of herbs, and
loads of flavor.
I've strained the stock into a pan, and then just bring up to a nice rolling simmer.
You don't want to boil it too hard, because otherwise it is going to kill the delicate
flavors in there.
But just a nice kind of gentle simmer.
What we need to do is start to build the soup.
So first things first is to slice up some spring onion.
We divide the spring onions up into the white parts and the green parts.
The white parts I'm just going to slice very finely and add them to the stock.
For a full list of ingredients, check out the description box.
Scoop up these bits and just drop them in.
And just the heat of the stock is going to start to cook them gently but they'll still
retain a nice bit of crunch.
And to that I'm going to add some sliced up red birds eye chili.
There are three chilies here so it's going to be quite fiery.
If you don't like that much heat, just reduce the amount of chili.
But I like it hot.
So straight in there.
So then take the green tops and slice them really finely.
Just shred this nice and finely, and these are going to act as a pop of garnish for the
soup.
And then for a nice bit of sharpness, some lime.
Chop through, and just get some wedges ready.
So the base for any Pho is some great rice noodles, and these have been soaked in boiling
water for about eight to ten minutes until they're almost cooked through.
So I'm just going to start to build up the bowl.
Take some noodles, pop them in the bottom.
So this dish to the Vietnamese is like fish and chips to English people.
It's their national dish, it's a treasured dish, and it's something that's really addictive.
It's full of flavor, full of spice, and every single household of Vietnam has their own
different version.
But this is about as close as I can get, and I think this is a really traditional take
on it.
Okay, now I will add some bean sprouts.
It's going to give a great crunch to the soup.
A few of our spring onions, and then some beef.
This is flank steak so it's a cheaper cut, slightly tougher, but full of flavor.
But sliced really thinly it is really tender.
So just lay some strips over the top.
Next up take some herbs, and it is going to make the whole thing really fresh.
So I've got some Thai basil, and just pick the leaves off into the soup.
And this is a great dish for entertaining because you can have all your bowls for your
guests lined up, build up all the soup, and then right at the last minute just pour the
hot stock over.
So plenty of herbs, and it is really fresh and vibrant.
Next up, some fresh mint.
And this is a classic combination in Vietnam, mint and beef and chili are just a marriage
made in heaven.
They work really, really well together, and it lightens the whole dish.
And then finally, some coriander, pick the leaves off and chuck them in.
Now it is going to give it that really nice fragrance and lemony flavor.
Now at the moment, this might seem a bit strange that I've got raw beef in a bowl, but because
this stock is at a nice rolling simmer, it is just the right temperature that it is just
going to cook the beef through, but without making it too tough.
So everything is going to be beautifully soft.
This stock smells incredible.
It's deep, rich, earthy, beefy.
There is star anise, there is fennel seed, there is ginger.
All of those smells are hitting you coming up from the pan.
And that is what is going to flavor our soup and flavor our beef.
So just pour over the top, and you can see already the beef is starting to change color
and just start to cook through.
And just pour it quite slowly over the beef, and there we have it.
Let's just season it with a little bit of extra fish sauce.
So rather than salt, we're going to get the flavor of the fish sauce, and it is nice and
salty as well.
And then a good squeeze of lime juice, it is going to add a bit of zing.
And there we have it.
Here's my Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup.
Absolutely delicious, packed full of flavor, and loads of kick from chili.
As you can see the heat to the stock has just cooked the beef through.
It is still going to be deliciously tender and packed full of flavor.
Mm, that is incredible.
All the mint works so well with the beef.
There are deep spices in the soup, and those noodles are really slippery.
Gorgeous, gorgeous soup.
Absolutely brilliant, easy to prepare, guaranteed to impress, and you will keep coming back
for more.
If you have enjoyed this recipe I look forward to seeing you back in the kitchen again soon
for another episode in my Asian Bites series.
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