Vegan MoFo Day 15- Pho
This is another meal inspired by ingredients that needed to be used up (seitan and the cooking broth from it). My original plan was to just make some sort of vaguely-Asian noodle soup, but then I remembered that I have never had Pho. Pho is a Vietnamese soup, usually made with rice noodles and beef. I’ve always thought it was pronounced like “faux” but hooray, Wikipedia has corrected me before I made any embarrassing mistakes like calling it “faux pho” or something. It’s actually pronounced more like “faah.”
I decided upon this recipe, and followed it pretty closely, except I didn’t discover until too late that I had no carrots for the broth. I figured it was ok though since my seitan broth was pretty rich to start out with. The broth is seasoned with onion, ginger, star anise, coriander seeds, cinnamon, and cloves. You’re supposed to char the onion and ginger first, but I only made a half-hearted attempt at that before just chucking them in the pot of broth to simmer. You can either char them over an open flame or under the broiler. I started to try the open flame (gas stovetop) method but my tongs got too hot. So I put them under the broiler for a little while but didn’t have enough time to wait for them to char. Maybe next time I’ll make this on a weekend and do things properly. The broth still tasted awesome despite the non-charred ingredients.
I sauteed some seitan in siracha and soy sauce and agave, and also sauteed snow peas and mushrooms in a little sesame oil and salt. For garnishes I had scallions, cilantro, jalapenos, sliced onions, lime wedges and red and daikon radish. I truly love any dish that involves lots of little dishes of garnishes.
I have no idea of it’s “authenticity” or how it compares to any other pho since it’s the only one I’ve ever had, but it was truly delicious.
My mouth is seriously watering right now.
[...] if you are looking for something a bit more soup-like then prepare to drool. Jen has a little pho porn for you. No recipe, but enough photographic detail for you to flip your [...]
So THAT’S how you say ‘pho’!
And I must make pho again, it has been far too long.
Some Vietnamese restaurants have vegetarian pho, if you’re looking to something to compare it with. But your version looks pretty tasty though.
Whoa – I’ve made pho numerous times, but never with home-made broth. I have much to learn. Awesome pics – that all looks so fantastic.
BTW – I’ve heard that it’s pronounced “fuh”. My favorite place to get pho in Alexandria Virginia was a place, named after the owner’s wife, Pho Kim. I’ve always wondered if that was tongue-in-cheek.
Cheers!