- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cooking Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1.5 hours
- Category: Soup, Asian
- Method: Stovetop
- Serving Size: 4 servings
- Equipment: Large stock pot, colander, cooking pan
Ingredients
Soup
- (2) 3-inch cinnamon sticks
- (3) whole cloves
- (2) star anise
- (1) large white onion – peeled and chopped in quarters
- (1) 5-inch piece of fresh ginger – peeled and chopped in quarters
- (4) cups of vegetable broth
- (4) cups of water
- (4) tablespoons of soy sauce
- (8) ounces of rice noodles
- (2) tablespoons of olive oil or sesame oil
- (8) ounces of thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms
- (1) pinch of salt
- (1) pinch of black peppers
Garnishes
- Mung Bean Sprouts – handful
- Thai Basil – (1) large sprig of Thai basil
- Fresh mint – handful of mint
- (2) Green onions – thinly sliced
- (1) quarter wedge of lime
- Jalapeño slices – about 3-4 slices per serving (vary accordingly)
- Additional drops of Soy Sauce (optional)
- Siracha Sauce (optional)
Cooking Instructions
- Turn stove on to a medium heat level and place a large soup pot onto stove.
- In large cooking pot add your cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cloves. Leave these spices to roast in pot for at least 5 minutes, preferably with pot lid on top to preserve extracted flavors from these spices.
- Peel the skin off the ginger, cut ginger piece in half, and toss into large pot. At the same time cut your onion into quarter sizes and toss into large pot.
- Immediately following the ginger and onions, add vegetable broth and water into large pot. Once vegetable broth and water are added into pan increase the heat to high until boiling.
- Once mixture in large pot is boiling, reduce the heat from high to a low medium and leave to simmer for at least 30 minutes. Taste your broth (careful it’s hot) and dash a bit more salt or soy sauce to your desire. (During this time I would recommend working on chopping all your garnishes and cooking your mushrooms and plant based protein of choice).
- Pan sear your mushrooms and plant based protein of choice, slicing mushrooms into thin strips, as well as your plant based protein of choice – once these are cooked set aside.
- Once broth has been simmering for over 30 minutes, using a colander transfer the broth mixture through the colander onto another stock pot or a large (heatproof) bowl. Transfer the liquid broth to your original stock pot after using colander.
- Increase the heat to high for stock pot with broth to a boil. When the broth is boiling in stock pot, add in noodles at once. The boiling broth should cook your noodles in 5 minutes. Make sure your water is boiling when adding the noodles!
- Stir noodles around for about 5 minutes to ensure that they do not stick together (this can happen if noodles are left alone in pot).
- Turn heat off, grab a soup bowl, and pour in some broth with noodles.
- Add in your sautéed mushrooms and plant based protein to your soup bowl.
- Add your chopped garnishes into your soup bowl, don’t forget the dash of lime!
- For the cherry on top and for a spicy kick, add a dash of siracha sauce to your soup bowl.
- Now you can enjoy and eat away! Trust me you’ll want seconds!
Tips
- Make sure to turn your broth onto high heat and allow it to boil before adding noodles in to cook, if the broth is not boiling hot the noodles will turn soggy and stick to each other.
- When you are cooking the noodles in boiling broth make sure to stir the noodles for about 5 minutes because if not the noodles could stick together and and become difficult to separate later.
- Don’t forget to taste your broth while it is simmering, this is the perfect time to adjust your measurements of soy sauce and additional salt if necessary.
- Take a look at the type of vegetable broth you are using, as some vegetable broths are labeled “low sodium” and depending on what you are expecting for salt levels, you can adjust accordingly.
Summary
This pho is full of flavor thanks to the spices, herbs, and sautéed mushrooms, with a bold broth you might enjoy even more than your favorite restaurant pho! As you will learn reading on about the process, the broth of a pho is the center of enjoyment while feasting on this dish, although I can’t boast about the ton of nutrition benefits to broth because it’s pretty straight forward – the broth (low sodium version) will be a great hydrator while enjoying a savory meal with minimal calories!
Vegetable Broth
One thing I have learned as the most important lesson in pho is this, the broth is do or die! The broth makes or breaks the pho, it gives the plate the infused flavor and saltiness to an otherwise bland mixture of water and vegetables. The broth is key in obtaining perfection of the essence of pho! In my many attempts at pho I have failed miserably and through those failures I have accomplished the perfect broth as well! You have two options, you can either buy vegetable broth and boil the pertaining serving size, or you can make your own broth following my Homemade Broth Recipe! In this recipe I made my own broth. Now that you have chosen your pick of the two, the broth should be the first item to tackle as this will take some time and the sooner you get the broth started the more infused flavor and depth of smokiness this broth can obtain..remember, with broth, the longer time cooking the better! You want to grab a pot large enough to fit in the broth and eventually at the end the noodles, turn the stove top on medium high, and add your star anise, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger into the pot, allowing them to get heated up and release those aromatic notes that will be decorously appreciated in the broth. You’ll want to leave these spices to the heat for about 5 minutes, and following that adding your broth into this same pot with the spices. Once the broth has been added in, sprinkle a pinch of salt during this process, this will allow the broth to infuse with the spices more vigorously.
The Noodles
The noodles are the staple of the pho, although this is the quickest part of the process. I cook my noodles up until the last 5 minutes before plating, because once the broth is completed and fully infused with flavors simmering for over 30 minutes, you can put the broth on high heat and once the broth is boiling go ahead and add your noodles in. In the variety of noodles I have used my results have concluded that 5 minutes is perfect timing for cooking the noodles in boiling broth. Please do not make the same mistake I have made, the broth water must be boiling when cooking the noodles! If the noodles are not cooked in boiling water you will end up with a mushy ball of sticky noodles and a sad result.
Sauté Mushrooms & Beyond Meat
I personally love to sauté my Beyond Meat in 1-2″ inch thick strips and leave them crunchy for a nice texture complimenting the broth it will be infused in.
Garnishes
The garnishes will include washing all your vegetables, and chopping some, including green onions, cilantro, and jalapeños. The other garnishes include Thai basil (or regular basil if you can’t find Thai basil), mung bean sprouts, fresh mint, and small wedges of lime. Once you get to add these into your plate its the best feeling because you about to enjoy these components all put together and dive in, hip hip hooray!!
Gentle Market 