Pho bo, the (almost) lazy recipe
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
A fast version of the famous Vietnamese soup.
Ingredients
Broth
  • 3.5-4 litres water
  • 1 cube of instant vegetable broth (optional)
  • 1 carrot, cut in fourths
  • 500g beef cut into chunks (I use sirloin steak cut into thinnish slices, and later eat that with the broth)
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped into small pieces
  • 8 tablespoons nưởc chấm (if you don't have nưởc chấm handy, try 2 tablespoons of undiluted fish sauce)
  • 1 celery stalk (optional)
  • 1 pack bánh phở noodles (375g).
Spice mix
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 anise stars
  • 1 shallot studded with 6 cloves, (for more kick), one yellow onion studded with 6 cloves
  • 5 cardamom pods, crushed with the flat of a knife
  • 1-inch ginger piece
Garnish
  • Fresh soy (to taste)
  • Chopped green onions (to taste. I use one spring onion per person)
  • Coriander leaves (to taste. I use 3-4 coriander stalks per person)
  • Thinly sliced sweet onions (to taste. I generally don't use that because I don't often have onions in the fridge)
  • If you're lucky enough to have húng qué around (Asian basil), then you'll want to throw that in.
Instructions
Making the broth
  1. Put the spices in a mesh ball if you have one (I don't use it, but I end up having to fish everything out of the broth)
  2. Let's do the broth first: drop everything except the noodles into the pot, bring to a boil, skim off the impurities (we're not using bones, there's going to be fewer of them). Then cover and let it simmer for a good 2+ hours. I tend to do 2 hours because I'm usually very hungry by that time, but the more you let it simmer, the tastier it'll be.
  3. Taste the broth. If it's too bland, add in more fish sauce.
Cooking the noodles
  1. Fish out the spices and the beef (if you used the mesh ball, take that out. I tend to dump everything in and strain the broth through a colander, and then fish out what I need, ie the beef and the bits of garlic).
  2. Prepare the noodles according to the inscriptions on the packet: generally, boil water, drop them in, and wait a few minutes for them to go soft. If you found fresh ones, you more or less need to dip them into hot water, and they'll be ready.
Assembling the soup
  1. Put ¼th-1/6th of the noodles, the equivalent proportion of the meat and of the broth. Then a handful of chopped spring onion, some coriander, and a handful of soy.
  2. Alternatively, you can put the garnish on the table and let everyone help themselves.
Recipe by Aliette de Bodard at https://www.aliettedebodard.com/recipes/pho-bo-almost-lazy-recipe/