Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup

Pho Bo or Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup is one of the most famous dishes in Vietnam. Pho is pronounced "phir" and Bo means beef as you can also have Pho Ga which is Chicken Noodle Soup.
The base of this dish is a wonderful flavoursome beef broth which is made by simmering ginger, shallots, star anise, cinnamon sticks, fennel seeds, shin of beef, beef marrow bones, celery, carrots, onions, cloves and peppercorns for 5 or more hours. The longer the better! If you dry fry the spices, ginger and shallots before adding to the stock it will add extra colour and flavour.The stock is then strained and refrigerated overnight to make it easier to skim off the excess fat.
To serve you bring the beef broth to the boil and add in the white parts of some spring onions and fish sauce. Dried rice noodles are softened in boiling water and placed in soup bowls. The noodles are topped with thinly sliced raw beef fillet, the green part of some spring onions and bean shoots and finally the boiling stock (which will cook the beef). Serve with garnishes of lime wedges, sliced red bird's eye chillies, Thai basil, mint and coriander which each diner can add to suit their taste. I bought the birds eye chillies from our local Asian supermarket and they certainly were hot! I sprinkled a few on my Pho Bo before I realised how hot they were and then removed them however they had already added considerable heat to the soup! I had to have a small second helping without chilli so I could appreciate the flavour of the broth. Like much Vietnamese food there was a mixture of textures with the crunch of the bean shoots, the soft rice noodles and the leafy herbs.
This is a dish I feel you would need to make a few times to determine what combination and quantities of herbs, chillies and lime juice work best for your individual taste.
Thankyou Rick Stein for a new taste experience.
Rating 7 out of 10.