A Bowl Of Pho Bo (Beef Pho) & A Wonderful Parcel From Bo

With the temperature hovering just above the single digits for the last few days,  the thought of devouring a hot bowl of pho in a warm room has never been stronger. I have been wanting to make beef pho for a very long time but I always ended up making chicken pho for some reasons. Well... carrying 2 kgs of beef bones around on top of the rest of the ingredients is not really something I would call fun but since one of the tummies was with me during my last shopping trip to Victoria Street, it was quite a different story. Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients needed and the time taken to make the broth, the end result will have you rushing out the door for more beef bones. If you are not a fan of beef, have a look at my chicken pho. 
P.S  It is an absolute must to simmer the broth for more than 3 hours. Add beef balls and beef tendons to your pho if your heart desires.

recipe adapted from Mai Pham's "Pleasures Of The Vietnamese Table"
and Didier  Corlou's "Vietnamese Cuisine"

makes 6 to 8 serves

you'll need;

2 kg of fresh thin rice noodles 

1/2 kg of beef fillets, thinly sliced*

2 lemon, cut into wedges

3 cups of bean sprouts

1 bunch of Vietnamese mint

1 bunch of Thai basil

3 spring onions, chopped

1 bunch of coriander leaves

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

5 bird chilies, chopped

* place beef fillets in the freezer for 2 hours to firm up before slicing.

for the broth;

2 kg of beef bones (just tell your Asian butcher it is for making pho)

1 kg of braising beef (gravy beef) cut in half

1 large yellow onion, charred and cleaned

10 cm knob of ginger, charred and cleaned and bashed

3 star anise

5 cloves

1/4 cup of fish sauce

3 tbs of rock sugar

sea salt to taste

water

Char onion and ginger til blacken. Rinse under running tap and remove all burnt bits.

Place bones and braising beef in a stock pot and bring it to a vigorous boil for 5 minutes, this helps to remove impurities which will cloud the broth. Remove bones and meat from the pot and rinse under running tap for a minute. Clean stock pot and return bones and meat to a new pot of boiling water. Add the rest of the stock ingredients.

When the water returns to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Skim the surface of any foam and fat from time to time (til the end). Remove a piece of the beef after an hour or til it is tender, soak it in a bowl of cold water to prevent discolouration. Continue to simmer for a further 2 hours. Remove all solids and check for seasonings.

Slice braised beef and set aside.

Slice beef fillets thinly. This is made easy by freezing the beef for at least 2 hours.

Have everything ready, meanwhile blanch noodles in batches.

Place blanched noodles in a bowl, top with braised beef and raw beef fillets. Ladle some of the hot amber colour broth over and top with some onion slices, spring onions and coriander leaves. Help yourself with the rest of the toppings.

On top of that something that warmed my heart arrived from America. I received the beautiful "Southern  Cooking" I won from my fellow blogger friend Bo from "Bo's Bowl". Thank you very much my friend! Body, soul and heart all warmed up, blessed!

Being a southerner with a big warm heart he also sent me a few local publications and a lovely note along with the book. I will be getting ideas from all these reading materials over the weekend. Meanwhile head over to Bo's blog for some good old southern hospitality!