Pho soup, along with Miso and Minestrone, is one of the three most popular first courses in world cuisine.
The mysterious taste of a rich and unusually aromatic dish has won the hearts of many gourmets.
The history of the soup goes back centuries and is shrouded in many mysteries and secrets. But despite this, the dish can be easily prepared at home and surprise your family with your culinary knowledge.
Gourmet reviews
Pho soup is one of the most sold national dishes in the world. The most delicious pho soup, according to gourmet reviews, consists of two types of meat - boiled and half-raw (only scalded with broth). The soup with the addition of tiger shrimps, which give an unusual taste to the dish, as well as Thai basil, is also highly valued.
You can try the most delicious pho soup in Nha Trang at Yen's Restaurant, Pho Hong Giang, Pho 10 in Hanoi, as well as in many other places. The national dish is served in every cafe, and finding it is not difficult. If you want to try real pho, which the Vietnamese themselves value, then look for small restaurants, and best of all, neighborhoods where soup is poured right on the street.
Watch the video for more details:
Benefits of soup from Vietnam
- Collagen-rich broth prevents the development of wrinkles.
- Lime juice and greens contain large amounts of vitamins A, C, and calcium, which are good for teeth and bones.
- Vitamin K contained in cilantro promotes wound healing.
- Capsaicin is found in chili peppers and helps kill tumor cells and improves the activity of the human immune system.
- Vietnamese pho bo soup, the recipe for which is described above in the article, helps maintain water balance and stimulates intestinal function.
Attention! People make good money growing berries during a crisis. All information -
Here
With seafood
Classic Pho Bo recipes have undergone numerous changes, and as a result, completely new varieties of soup have appeared. At first, seafood was sometimes added to the beef broth, and then this version of the dish began to consist only of fish, seafood and vegetables.
What ingredients will you need?
To make seafood pho, you need the following.
For the broth:
- A thick piece of ginger, 5 cm long, unpeeled;
- 1 medium yellow onion, unpeeled;
- 1 Fuji or other sweet and sour apple, peeled and cored, cut into small pieces;
- 2 medium celery stalks, coarsely chopped;
- 1 large carrot, cut into thick circles;
- 450g bok choy leaves, cut into large pieces;
- 16 star anise;
- cinnamon stick 2.5 cm long;
- 1.5 tsp each fennel seeds and fine sea salt;
- 1 tsp. coriander seeds;
- 2.25 liters of water;
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce;
- 3 tbsp. l. dried shrimp;
- 300 g large shrimp, unpeeled;
- from 1.5 to 2 tbsp. l. fish sauce;
- about 1 tsp. sugar or 2 tsp. maple syrup (optional).
To assemble the soup:
- 300 g dry narrow flat rice noodles;
- cooked shrimp from broth;
- 300 g squid or mussels, or a mixture of them;
- half a small yellow or red onion, thinly sliced and soaked in water for 10 minutes;
- 2 leeks, thinly sliced, green parts only;
- 0.5 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, leafy parts only;
- 1 tsp. finely chopped peeled ginger.
To submit:
- chili sauce.
Step-by-step cooking process
Vietnamese vegetable broth soup with seafood is prepared as follows:
- You must first bake in the oven or fry the shallots and ginger in a frying pan until softened, then cool, peel and rinse well, cut into large pieces.
- Next, you need to put anise, cinnamon, fennel and coriander in an empty saucepan with a capacity of about 8 liters and fry over low heat for several minutes, stirring, until a strong aroma appears, then pour in 4 tbsp. water to stop heating.
- After this, add ginger and onion there along with an apple, vegetables, salt, oyster sauce and dried shrimp, add the remaining water, partially cover with a lid and boil over high heat, then turn down the heat and cook for 1 hour.
- At the 50th minute of cooking, place seafood in a metal sieve or gauze bag into the broth, cook for 3 minutes, then quickly remove and transfer to a container with cold water.
- When the broth is ready, you need to let it stand for 5-10 minutes. uncover, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve. You should get about 2 liters of liquid.
- Soak the noodles in hot water until they become soft and opaque, then drain and place into serving bowls.
- Next, you need to place a little seafood in each serving, fill it with broth and add a little onions, leeks, ginger and cilantro, and add chili sauce if desired.
In Vietnamese
This is another classic version of the Vietnamese dish, consisting of beef and some Asian spices.
Sliced meat, noodles, bean sprouts, leeks and Thai basil are added to the broth.
Step-by-step cooking process
For this variation of Pho Bo you will need:
- 6 liters of water;
- 2 kg beef short ribs;
- a piece of ginger 8-9 cm long;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- 5 star anise;
- 7 clove buds;
- 1 cinnamon stick;
- 1 tsp. black pepper;
- 5 tbsp. l. fish sauce;
- 1 pack of rice noodles;
- 500 g thinly sliced beef (tenderloin or other lean part);
- lime wedges;
- 4 leeks, chopped;
- 3 tbsp. fresh bean sprouts;
- 0.5 tbsp. fresh cilantro;
- 0.25 tbsp. fresh Thai basil.
Step-by-step cooking process
Pho soup with beef rib broth is prepared as follows:
- It is necessary to bring water to a boil in a large saucepan, mix it with ribs, ginger, garlic, anise, cloves, cinnamon stick, pepper and fish sauce, turn down the heat and cook for 1.5-2 hours, then strain the broth.
- You need to put the noodles in the hot broth and wait 10 minutes for them to soften.
- Next, you need to pour the soup into portioned bowls and put in each a few pieces of raw beef and coarsely chopped spicy herbs.
This Pho Bo should be served simultaneously with Sriracha and cotton sauce so that everyone can adjust the level of spiciness and sweetness.
Vietnamese pho soup recipe
Real pho requires rice noodles.
Making pho soup is not difficult, but you need to spend time both searching for ingredients and cooking the meat broth, which takes at least two to three hours to cook.
Having purchased the ingredients, let's start preparing:
Step 1. Prepare meat broth. Place beef bones in boiling water and cook over medium heat. The first broth is drained after boiling. Next, the water is changed, the bones are washed, soft beef is added, which will then be cut into the finished soup.
Step 2. Boil the pho noodles according to the recipe on the package. Next, rinse it in plenty of running water. If you don't rinse well, the noodles will start to stick together and ruin the whole dish.
Step 3. Cut the onion into rings and fill with water. We also finely chop green onions and thinly beef (if you plan to add scalded meat to the soup). Add cilantro, mint, basil, red chili (without seeds).
Step 4. Place the noodles in a bowl . Add onion and all chopped ingredients.
Step 5. Pour boiling meat broth over everything. Add bean sprouts, onions, herbs to taste, fish sauce. You can sprinkle the finished soup with lime.
The cooking time for the broth is different for each housewife, but the longer the meat is simmered, the better. Secret ingredients for this step: roasted ginger, licorice root, anise. You can also add a couple of spoons of fish sauce to the broth itself, which has a rather specific taste.
Secrets of serving a dish
The dish is served in the north and south of Vietnam the same way. First, boiled rice noodles are placed in a heap on a plate. Onion rings and chopped meat are laid out on it, followed by chopped green onions and cilantro. Next, everything is poured with boiling broth, after which sprouted beans, spices, garlic, fish and other types of sauces are added.
As mentioned above, meat in soup is served in two types: well-cooked and half-raw. In the second case, the meat is first placed in a saucepan and kept in the hot broth for literally a minute. After this, it is placed in the finished soup.
There's not a lot of liquid in real pho soup—the base of the dish is the noodles, which take up most of the plate. The Vietnamese joke that for them this is both the first and second course at the same time. This unusual soup is eaten with traditional wooden chopsticks. Most of the liquid is absorbed into the noodles, and the rest is drunk from the bowl, as from a regular cup.
Ripe lime is always added to pho bo in southern Vietnam. It is cut into large slices and served separately with the soup. Sometimes a couple of drops of red hot sauce are poured into the broth so that it turns red. They eat soup in Vietnam very early - between 6-8 am. The soup is served in large or small bowls, and you can always order a refill.
Useful tips and tricks
This Vietnamese dish does not have to be prepared strictly according to the recipe. To get a delicious soup, you just need to consider the following tips and recommendations:
- Ideal herbs for this soup include cilantro, leeks, and basil, but these aren't the only valid options. You can safely experiment and choose your own bouquet of scents.
- To make the broth rich, it is important to maintain the correct ratio of meat and water, which is about 500 g per 1 liter. You need to cook it slowly, over low heat, without allowing it to simmer vigorously for a long time. Only if this condition is met will it turn out to be a beautiful golden color.
- When cooking broth, 2 combinations of components are used - aromatic substances and dressing. The latter can only contain sugar, salt and fish sauce. Monosodium glutamate can be used in small quantities.
- For flavoring, add onion, ginger and a pre-assembled spice packet containing anise, cloves, fennel seeds and cinnamon, or some other combination. It is recommended to purchase a ready-made spicy mixture from a specialized store, which contains a convenient cotton bag for placing in the broth. Storing all spices separately in open containers may result in deterioration in quality.
- Dry roasting spices releases essential oils that make the broth more aromatic and interesting in taste. Pre-baking or frying ginger and onions has a similar effect. It is important that they not only brown, but also become soft inside.
It is recommended to try any Pho Bo recipe (classic or more adventurous) immediately after combining all the ingredients, before adding Sriracha or Hoisin sauces. There is a high probability that the dish will seem tasty on its own, without additional spiciness.
Calorie content of foods possible in the dish
- I category chicken – 238 kcal/100g
- Category II chicken – 159 kcal/100g
- Chicken, flesh without skin – 241 kcal/100g
- Chickens – 140 kcal/100g
- Garlic – 143 kcal/100g
- Cloves – 323 kcal/100g
- Cinnamon – 247 kcal/100g
- Mint – 49 kcal/100g
- Fresh mint – 49 kcal/100g
- Dried mint – 285 kcal/100g
- Lime – 16 kcal/100g
- Black peppercorns – 255 kcal/100g
- Green onion – 19 kcal/100g
- Refined soybean oil – 899 kcal/100g
- Low-fat soy flour – 326 kcal/100g
- Full fat soy flour – 421 kcal/100g
- Boiled soybeans – 130 kcal/100g
- Mizo soybeans – 171 kcal/100g
- Sprouted raw soybeans – 46 kcal/100g
- Dried uncooked soybeans – 403 kcal/100g
- Soy – 403 kcal/100g
- Noodles – 135 kcal/100g
- Onions – 41 kcal/100g
- Chili pepper – 40 kcal/100g
Calorie content of foods: Chicken, Noodles, Mint, Limes, Green onions, Onions, Soy, Sauce, paste, Chili pepper, Cinnamon, Cloves, Garlic, Peppercorns
