Vietnamese Pho soup: step by step recipe with photo

Vietnam, like other countries of the East, is distinguished by its national cuisine, where rice, fish, soy sauce and a large amount of vegetables and herbs are in priority. Of meat, pork or chicken is most often used, but there are also dishes with beef. One such dish is Pho Bo soup. The recipe for Vietnamese Pho Bo soup incorporates all the products that are inherent in Eastern countries: Pho rice noodles, meat and a lot of greens.

Vietnamese Pho Bo soup is a classic option, you can often find other recipes for Pho soup with chicken (Pho Ga) and fish (Pho Ka). Pho noodles are made by hand in the homeland of this dish. Today it can be purchased in the store ready-made.

For the preparation of Vietnamese soup Pho Bo according to the classic recipe, mainly beef meat from the hip part is used, as it is softer. To cook the broth, beef bones of the thigh or ribs are taken.

This Vietnamese soup is served in two versions, where the meat can be boiled or raw. When serving raw meat, it is cut into very thin layers and poured with broth, just removed from the heat. So it comes to a ready state.

Another feature of serving this Vietnamese soup is the addition of lime slices, fresh peppers and lettuce.

Nutritional value and ingredients

Depending on the amount of ingredients used, the calorie content of Pho Bo soup and the content of fats, proteins and carbohydrates in it can vary significantly.

One 100g serving of Vietnamese Pho Bo Soup contains:

• calories – 54 kcal;
• fat – 2 g;
• proteins – 5 g;
• carbohydrates – 5 g.

The classic recipe for Pho Bo soup consists of three main components:

• broth;
• Fo noodles;
• meat.

Each of the components is prepared separately, and when served, they are combined together.

Bouillon Ingredients:

• beef bones (it is desirable to use a thigh) – 600-800 g;
• salt;
• sugar;
• fish sauce;
• water 5 l (2 l for the first cooking and 3 l for the broth).

Spices for the broth:

• 1 medium onion (you can take half a large onion);
• anise (star anise) – 5-6 pieces;
• cloves – 5-8 pieces;
• cinnamon – 4 sticks;
• boxes of cardamom – 3 pieces;
• ginger root.

For filling:

• beef tenderloin;
• rice noodles;
• 1,5 liters of water for boiling noodles;
• half an onion;
• green onions;
• mint;
• kinza;
• basil.

As additional ingredients use:

• red chili pepper;
• lime;
• fish sauce or lychee sauce.

Greens, sauce, red pepper and lime are added when serving in any quantity as desired. Often, while cooking beef shanks, carrots are added along with onions. It gives a pleasant taste and colors the dish in an appetizing color.

How to make a classic Pho Bo soup recipe with raw meat

The very process of making Vietnamese Pho Bo soup with beef begins with a long boil of the broth. To do this, take beef bones and wash them thoroughly. Put in a saucepan, pour 2 liters of water, put on fire. After boiling, the bones are boiled for about 10 minutes, then this water is drained. This is necessary in order for the yushka to be transparent.

After the first cooking, the bones are washed again under running water, put in a saucepan and pour 3 liters of water. Add salt, sugar and fish sauce to taste. Put on fire, bring to a boil, remove the resulting foam. Reduce the heat and leave to cook for 5-12 hours.

After boiling the beef bones for about 5 hours, they begin to cook the spices.

All spices should be pre-baked or fried in a pan without oil for about 2 minutes to release their flavor.

The fried spices are transferred to gauze folded in several layers, tied and lowered in this form into a saucepan. This is done so that the spices after cooking do not come across in the finished soup.

While the broth is cooking with spices, boil the noodles. This is done just before serving.

Put a saucepan with 1,5 liters of water on the fire. After boiling, put the noodles into the water and cook for 2-3 minutes until fully cooked.

While the noodles are cooking, prepare the greens. Gradually cut green onions and onions into a bowl.

Add lime.

They bring cilantro.

Cut the basil.

Prepare the mint.

The finished noodles are washed and put in a bowl with chopped herbs.

Before pouring the broth, cut the beef tenderloin into very thin layers.

To cut the meat as thinly as possible, it is advisable to pre-freeze it.

Spread the meat cut into thin pieces on the noodles and pour everything with hot broth.

If the meat is raw, it must be poured with boiling broth so that it reaches the desired degree of readiness.

Vietnamese Pho Bo soup according to the classic recipe is quite simple to prepare at home, if you follow the sequence of preparation and cooking of all ingredients correctly.

Variant of cooking Vietnamese soup Pho Bo with boiled meat

To prepare Vietnamese Pho Bo soup at home according to a recipe with boiled meat, you will need the same list of ingredients as in the classic recipe. The only difference between this option is that the meat is not served raw, but pre-boiled.

Method of preparation:

1. Beef shanks are washed, placed in a saucepan, pour 2 liters of water and bring to a boil, cook for 10 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the stove, drain the water. The bones are washed and again filled with water, salt, fish sauce and a pinch of sugar are added to taste. Put on fire, let it boil. After boiling, collect the foam, reduce the heat and leave to cook for 5 hours.
3. While the beef bones are cooking, prepare the spices in the same way as in the first recipe, after frying them in a dry frying pan.
4. Cut the meat tenderloin into pieces of 1-2 cm.
5. Onion, spices and beef fillet are added to the boiling broth. After that, the broth is boiled for another 2 hours.
6. As soon as the broth is ready, it is removed from the stove. Pieces of boiled meat are caught, bones are taken out (if there is meat on them, it should be cut off). Strain the broth and again put on fire until boiling (the ingredients are poured with boiling broth).
7. Rice noodles are cooked before serving. It is boiled for about 2-3 minutes. The finished noodles are thrown into a colander and washed under cold running water so that they do not stick together.
8. Cut greens: green onions, basil, cilantro, mint. And put it in a deep bowl.
9. Add noodles and pieces of boiled meat to chopped greens. Lime slices and hot peppers are added to taste. Pour boiling broth over everything.

Sometimes chicken meat is used instead of beef tenderloin. The recipe for Vietnamese Pho Bo soup with chicken is also based on beef bone broth, only chicken fillet is added instead of beef.

Little tricks:

• so that such a Vietnamese dish is not too fatty, you can cook the broth in advance, cool and remove the top layer of fat, and bring it to a boil again before serving it;
• before cutting the greens, it can be well mashed so that it releases as much essential oils and juice as possible;
• Instead of salt, you can add soy sauce.

Vietnamese Pho soup is statistically one of the most popular first courses in Vietnam. You can try it not only in Vietnamese restaurants, but also on the street, where soup is boiled in large pots and poured into small portions.

This national Vietnamese dish is appreciated by both the local population and tourists.

The main feature in Vietnamese cuisine when preparing Pho Bo soup is that the broth can be cooked for up to 12 hours. Eat it not only at lunch, but throughout the day for breakfast or dinner. Seafood is often added to the dish and decorated with sprouted young soybeans.

The Vietnamese Pho Bo soup recipe is very simple. Although the cooking process is lengthy, the result is worth the wait, because the dish turns out to be very nutritious, rich and high-calorie with a pleasant delicate aroma and delicate taste.