I’m beginning to layer sweaters and scarves and ending my days with a warm cup of tea. Fall is almost here, and I can sense it in my bones!

As the days become rainy, soup becomes ones of my foods of choice. As I’ve explored the many international foods that scatter the city of Seattle, I’ve come across the perect fall soup – Pho! Seattle is scattered with tons of Vietnamese Pho restaurants serving as a warm escape on rainy days.

While browsing Pinterest, I realized I hadn’t yet attempted to make Pho! So, here’s my first stab at it. It was delicious! The only thing I might change is the broth. I might try a vegetable broth next time, as I think it will be closer to what is in most of the Pho restaurants.

Vietnamese Pho

Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Yield: About 4 servings

Ingredients

• 8 cups beef broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly minced
• 2 whole star anise
• 2 Teaspoons Ground Clove
• 1 (3-inch) knob of ginger, sliced into coins
• 1 cinnamon stick
• SALT and black pepper
• 1 package pho rice noodles
• 12 ounces steak, very thinly sliced against the grain
• Garnishes: bean sprouts, fresh cilantro, fresh ginger slices, lime wedges, thinly-chopped green onions, thinly-sliced jalapeños, Thai basil, Sriracha

Method

1. In a large stockpot, bring to boil beef broth, water, onion, garlic, star anise, clove, ginger, and cinnamon stick, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, remove the star anise (unless you want that flavor to be really strong). Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. While broth is simmering, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the rice noodles until al dente (about 3 minutes). Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water in order to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.
3. When the broth is complete, fill serving bowls about halfway full with the noodles. Cover the noodles with hot broth. Immediately stir in the steak so that it cooks. (I hate raw meat, so I tossed the steak straight into the pan where the broth was simmering. I wouldn’t do this again as the meat turned out a little tough. It really will get done by just cooking in your bowl! )
4. Top with garnishes.

Tips

The broth may taste different than what you’ll typically eat at a Vietnamese restaurant. It could be the MSG that gives the broth a different flavor. Adding extra salt into the broth really helped bring out the beef flavors within the broth.

Adapted from: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/vietnamese-pho-soup-recipe/