Vietnamese Pho (Beef Rice Noodles)

At here, Vietnamese restaurant is the one I will regular beside going for Chinese food. People over here, not just Asian but local love to eat Vietnamese famous Pho, a rice noodles dish with either beef or chicken. Most of the time I will go down to Richmond area to eat the delicious Vietnamese Beef Pho, I have tried one at the food court at Brendon Park shopping mall, it is delicious too. 

I have not buy any marrow-rich beef bones before, so when a website recommends to have marrow-rich beef bones to cook the Pho broth, I went down to Preston Market to look for it. The butcher pointed me to a heap of bones laying in a box at a corner on the floor, I couldn't believe that the piles of bones over there where I always think is for dog is the bones I'm looking for. Of course, I didn't buy it!... I bought chuck bones, six big pieces of them with just 2.99/kg. and also a half kg of girello with 11.99/kg, I requested it to be thinly sliced.

A good broth is the important element for this dish. Before I eat the noodles, I will taste its soup first, the delicious soup is the key for me to come back for more. I did some research before I try out cooking one, it frighten me when I know that some restaurants take at least 3 hours to cook their broth. Sincerely, I don't think I can do that so I brought the beef-stock spices where the ingredients are: coriander seeds, fennel seeds, star anise, cassia and brown cardamon pods as a short cut, by adding the spices in the broth I only cook the broth for 1.5 hour and the fragrance of it filled my kitchen. Huh, ready to slurp up the Pho? :) 


Note: I'm using a big soup pot which is about 6 liter. 

Cooking the Pho broth

Vietnamese Mint Leaves in my garden

Recipe from Tze's Kitchen Play
(6 liter soup pot)
Ingredients:
6 big pieces of chuck bones 
200g thinly sliced girello 
3 big yellow onions, sliced
1 inch of ginger, sliced
1 pack of Pho Saigon spices powder
1 pack of Pho beef stock spices
100g of sugar (prefer using yellow rock sugar)
6~7 tbsp of fish sauce (to taste)
1.5 tsp salt (to taste)
some Vietnamese mint leaves, wash
some fresh Pho rice noodles 

Method:

(1)Prepare the chuck bones: place the bones in boiling water for about 5 mins, when you see lot of brown impurities surface, remove the pot from heat. Wash the bones under running water, drain and place the bones into the big soup pot with clean water.

(2)Prepare the broth: fry the sliced onions and ginger on a pan, until slightly browning. Place the fried onions and ginger into the soup pot (1) together with chuck bones. Add the Pho Saigon spices powder and Pho beef stock spices into the soup pot, cook until the water boiling, turn the heat to medium and simmer for 1.5 hours, seasoned with fish sauce, salt and sugar. Strained the broth.

(3) Prepare the noodle: place about 200g of fresh Pho rice noodles in boiling water, boil for 2~3 mins until the noodles turn soft. Set aside. Place a few pieces of thinly sliced girello in a serving bowl, blanch it with the hot Pho broth for a few times until the beef is 90% cook (you can see with your eyes). Place the soft Pho noodles into the bowl, add in some Vietnamese mint leaves, add the broth. Serve hot.