Vietnamese Pho Bo

Pho Bo - the traditional beef noodle soup made with flat rice noodles.

In Vietnam, most of the people don't cook it themselves anymore because a long time ago, the beef had to cook in the water for 24 hours. Therefore the people eat their pho at one of the numerous "Pho shops" at the sidewalks now.

In my version, the beef will only cook for ca. 2 hours, so it won't take too much time.

Ingredients for 4 persons:

500 gr beef shank

5 cm long piece of Ginger

2,5 l water

1 Tsp salt

1 Tsp pepper

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 Tsp clove

1 Tbsp coriander

3 Tbsp fish sauce (nuoc mam)

400 gr cooked rice noodles (pho)

3 chopped scallions

1 onion, cut into slices

fresh coriander, chilli sauce (optional)

1/2 chopped Chinese cabbage

Method:

1) Add the ginger and the salt to the water and boil it up. Reduce the heat and let the meat cook in the water for 90 mins. But pay attention! If there is foam in the pot you have to remove that with a spoon.

Then add the other spices and let it cook for an other 30 mins. After that take the meat and let it cool down a bit.

2) Then you can cut the beef across the grain into thin slices.

3) Put some rice noodles and cabbage into each bowl and put the beef slices on the top. Decorate with some onions, scallions or coriander if you would like.

4) At last pour the boiling broth over the whole stuff. If you like it spicier or saltier you can add chilli or fish sauce.