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Sprinkle lime juice on top and then hoisin sauce and
chilli sauce to finish. |
Back to slow cooking and Asia. I don't know why Vietnamese kitchen is not that known as Thai kitchen but in my opinion Vietnamese food is at least exciting as Thai food. Today I made Pho Bo or Vietnamese noodle soup with beef. If you make the broth by yourself this recipe takes about 5-6 hours to make. I understood that some supermarkets sells ready Pho broth but I wanted to make everything from the scratch.
Broth:
1 kg (4-7 pieces) ox tails
4 Chinese star anise
1 tsp cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 black cardamom pod
1 tbsp of coriander seeds
(1 tbsp of fennel seeds, I did not use these since I did not find them in any of Asian stores)
Fresh ginger (2 thumb sizes)
2 onions
Hard brown sugar (2 thumb sizes)
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp salt
Topping:
Spring onions
Coriander
Thai basil
Bean sprouts
2 large red chillies
1-2 limes
Hoisin sauce
Chilli sauce (Sriracha)
400 g beef tenderloin
1 package rice noodles
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| Warm-up the spices on medium fire. |
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Cook the ox tails on high temperature so that they become
golden brown. |
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| Roast the onions and ginger under a grill in the oven. |
Warm the spices on medium fire for 3 minutes (you cannot use the spices if you burn them so be careful). Meanwhile cut the onions into large pieces and together with peeled ginger roast them under a grill in the oven for 15 minutes or until they start to get black. Cook the ox tails on hot frying pan. Place the ox tails in a large casserole, add the grilled onions and ginger and then the heated spices. Pour 2-3 liters of water and let it come to a boil. Add the fish sauce, sugar and salt. Let the broth to boil for some 5-6 hours. If any foam or fat occurs on the surface remove it with a spoon.
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| Cook the ox tails, spices and onions and ginger for 5-6 hours. |
Cut the spring onions, coriander, Thai basil and chillies. Place all the vegetable including bean sprouts in their own plates or then in one big serving bowl like I did. Cut the lime into small boats.
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| Cut the vegetables, meat and lime. |
Cut the beef tenderloin into thin slices. I went to my local butcher and they were kind enough to cut the meat for me.
Soak the noodles in cold water for 5 minutes. Then boil the noodles in hot water according to the insturctions of the package.
Pick up the ox tails from the broth and place them into another casserole. Strain the broth to the casserole where you have the ox tails. Throw the spices and onions to the garbage. Add some more water to the broth and if needed some more salt. Let the broth to boil again.
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Put first the noodles in to the bowl
adding the thinly sliced tenderloin
on top. |
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| Pour the broth on top so the meat gently poaches in it. |
How to eat? Put the noodles in the bottom of the bowl. Put few slices of tenderloin on noodles. Pour boiling broth on the meat. It is important that the broth is boiling because this will gently poach the meat. After this pick the vegatables you like and add on the top of the noodles. Sprinkle some lime juice and hoisin sauce and chili sauce on top.
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Add the vegetables according to your taste and sprinkle with
lime juice and add hoisin sauce and chilli sauce on top. |
