Vietnamese Pho – Long on Flavor, Short on Time

We searched for a way to make a pho broth that tasted like it simmered for days, and came up with this recipe that gives you big flavor in a fraction of the time.

In our my neverending quest for awesome soups, the Beard suggested pho.  Actually, he’s suggested it a lot.  He’s wanted to try it forever now, but because of my pickiness when it comes to veggies, we don’t really go for authentic Asian foods; no one wants to sit at the table and watch me dissect my plate.

However, since we’ve been really pushing ourselves to make healthier meals, we’re trying a lot of new things, and I finally succumbed to the Beard’s requests that we make some pho.  The big problem?  We’ve never made a proper soup broth.  We made chicken stock once, but honestly, any time we need to do something with a broth, we pick up a box of it, dump it in the pot, and do our thing.  

For our pho, on the other hand, we wanted something more authentic, but neither of us wanted to spend the time to roast bones and veggies and tend to a simmering pot.  

Enter the slow cooker

We love the slow cooker.  We love to toss in some chicken breasts and a couple of cans of cream of mushroom soup and end up with a plateful of creamy chicken topped with some stuffing out of a box.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Sometimes we make chili, or maybe some garlic mashed potatoes, but the pho broth was a definite first for us.

Yes, you could say that we cheated by using the beef broth for our pho instead of making our own stock.  We did say that this was a simplified, quicker way of making it.  Nevertheless, you’re not losing any of that slow roasted beef broth flavor with this broth.  

What we learned from playing with our food pho

There was no real plan for making the pho.  I found a basic broth recipe to work off, and just dumped everything into the slow cooker.  We took things out and added others along the way, pulling out the ginger and onions, adding sliced carrots and jalapenos.  This let us adjust the flavors to suit what we liked.  

For our beef, we picked up a pack of shaved steak.  It was thin enough to cook in the hot broth without much trouble. 

The broth needs to be really hot to cook the meat, so you don’t want to let it cool down before you plan on eating the pho.  Additionally, anything you add to the broth before the beef will quickly cool it down, and then your beef won’t cook properly.  Make sure that your noodles are warm, and the broth is at least simmering when you ladle it into your bowls.  Once the beef has cooked in the broth, you can add things like fresh herbs or bean sprouts.

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Vietnames Pho with Beef and Noodles

We searched for a way to make a pho broth that tasted like it simmered for days, and came up with this recipe that gives you big flavor in a fraction of the time.

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine Asian

Keyword soup, pho, noodles, ramen

Prep Time 10 minutes

Slow Cooking 5 hours

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 8 cups beef broth
• 2 yellow onions
• 1 4″ chunk of fresh ginger
• 3 cinnamon sticks whole
• 4 whole star anise
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tbsps soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsps fish sauce
• 2 carrots peeled and sliced
• 2 jalepeno peppers sliced
• 8 oz rice noodles
• 12 oz thinly sliced or shaved beef
• salt & pepper to taste
• sriracha sauce optional

Instructions

Start the Base

1. Add beef broth, ground coriander, soy sauce, and fish sauce to the crock pot.  Cover and set on “low”.

2. Peel the ginger root and slice into quarters, lengthwise.  Peel the onions and quarter, through the root.  Add both the ginger and onion quarters to a dry skillet, then toast each side over medium-high flame.  Try not to pop the onion into its smaller sections, you’re not trying to saute them, only char the sides.  When finished, add both the ginger and onion to the broth.

3. Add the anise stars, cloves, and cinnamon sticks to the skillet, lowering the heat to medium-low.  Move them around to toast them until fragrant, about 2 minutes, then add to the slow cooker.  Replace cover and cook on low for at least 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

90 Minutes Before Serving

1. Peel and slice the carrots, then add to the broth, cover, and continue to simmer.

30 Minutes Before Serving

1. Remove as many of the onion quarters from the broth as you can manage, as well as the ginger root; save some of the onions if you want them in your pho.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the carrot slices and set aside.  

2. Strain the broth into a large pot or mixing bowl to remove the whole spices and any additional solids.  Return broth and carrots the slow cooker.  Slice your jalapeno and add to the broth.  Cover, set on high, and simmer for another 20-30 minutes.

Once the broth has been brought back up to a simmer

1. Prepare your rice noodles according to the package directions, reducing the cook time by 1-2 minutes.  If instructed to strain and  rinse the noodles in cold water, DON’T.  Leave the noodles in the pot of hot water.

2. Using a fork or some tongs, hold a small slice of the beef in the broth.  It should very quickly cook.  It’s ready to serve!

3. Taste the broth and add salt and pepper to taste (I think we used a couple of “grinds” of the pepper and 1/2 tsp of salt).

4. Using a pasta spoon or tongs, scoop noodles from their pot and portion into bowls, then top with a single layer of the thinly sliced beef.  Ladle the broth evenly over the beef to cook it.  Add veggies as desired.

The Tart

The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things.  She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.