Pho Goodness Sake.

 

I do so like a good pho. (pronounced fuh).  
What is pho, you ask?  Basically, it's a Vietnamese soup made up of a broth, herbs, and rice noodles, along with a buffet's worth of endless accompaniments and garnishes.  You can have a beef pho, phở bò, or chicken pho, phở gà.  Today, since I'm catering to vegetarians, pescaterians, and vegans, I'm making a vegetarian pho stock.  I'll serve a few bowls today and freeze the rest for later use. That way, I can start out with vegetarian and then turn it into anything I want!

I like being able to have a single bowl of pho, with whatever accents I want to use.  The problem with ordering pho at restaurants is that it's basically served in a trough.  I don't want a trough.  I want a bowl.  Also, whenever I buy soups at the ChinaMacs down here (I stopped bothering with the entrées long ago.), I want fried wontons.  The fried wontons offered here are ALWAYS STALE!  STALE!  ARGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!  How hard is it to fry a freakin' wonton?  Sheeeesh.
OK, RosieRant is over. 

If you'd like my recipe for beef pho, or  phở bò, and want to learn some of the history of the dish,
please check out my blog post, Pho Whom The Bell Tolls.

Now, for vegetarian pho basic stock, here are my step-by-steps:

First, get a bunch of onions, garlic, carrots, and celery.

Smash the garlic and coarsely chop the rest.

(Maybe 5 or 6 onions, 4 large garlic cloves, 6 or so each carrots and celery.

Like I said.  A bunch.  Numbers are not critical here.)

Heat a little oil in a large stock pot over medium heat and throw in the garlic and onions, skins and all.  (Just adds more flavor.)  Stir, cooking, about 5 minutes, slightly charring.

Add in the carrots and celery and keep cooking and stirring, about 10 minutes.

Pour in about 6 quarts of water, a teaspoon or so of kosher salt, a handful of peppercorns, and a  bunch of fresh thyme, parsley, and bay leaves.  (I have a bay tree, so I use fresh bay leaves.  If you're using dried, cut back to 2 or 3.  Dried  is stronger.)

Bring to a simmer.  Do not boil, but keep at a bare simmer.

After thirty minutes, remove the herbs.

Meanwhile...

Slice some ginger and onion, pour some oil over top, and place under broiler to brown.

In a dry skillet, toast some cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and anise.

And get you a big chunk of yellow rock sugar. 
I  have a box I bought from an Asian market up in Chesapeake.  Rock sugar is crystallized sugar, milder than regular granulated sugar.  It's commonly used in Chinese cooking, especially in soups and braised dishes.  It has a more delicate flavor than granular sugar and has flavor notes that white sugar is missing, but you can substitute demerara or raw sugar for rock if you're in a pinch.

Add the charred onion and ginger, the toasted cinnamon, cloves, and anise, and the rock sugar to the pot.

Keep at a bare simmer for another 60 minutes, skimming any froth off top.

Taste test.  Adjust seasoning.  Add kosher salt if needed.  A few tablespoons of soy sauce if you like.

And there you have a basic vegetarian pho broth.

Let cool and pour into quart and containers and freeze.

Now, when you get the itch for some pho, it's right there, ready to be thawed out, heated up,and added to.  And let me just tell you, this pho plays very well with others.

For example, I sautéed some mushrooms and added some sliced jalapeños and some mint and basil to this bowl.  Don't forget to fry up some wonton strips.

There are so many flavors in here.  It's complex.  It has depth.

And I forgot to add the noodles (which I think is what actually makes pho pho).

Tell you the truth, I didn't miss 'em.

If you're a real vegan or vegetarian, throw in some cubes of tofu.  Pretend it's meat.  HA!

Being highly carnivorous myself, I added in some seared beef.

Mint, basil, cilantro.  All work here.

Snow peas and scallions.

Ahh...  There're the noodles.

Enjoy!

Rosie Prepares A Fun Saturday Meal.

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon

and I'm in the mood for something different.

Hmmm...  What could that be?

Let's see...

I have bibb lettuce.

Short grained rice, cooked and sprinkled with a little rice wine vinegar

Shrimp.

Crab meat.

Pickled ginger.

Julienned carrot, radish, cucumber, and water chestnut.

Bean sprouts and clover sprouts.

Basil, mint, cilantro.

We're making spring rolls!

Well, I am.

Mr. Hawthorne got frustrated after wrapping 2 rolls and left.

I put a bed of rice on the lettuce leaf.

Added shrimp and crab meat.

Pile it on.

Little bit of everything.

And wrap and seal it all up in a rice sheet softened in water.

Slice rolls and serve with dipping sauces.

Orange Marmalade Sauce

Orange marmalade

Ginger juice

lime juice

cilantro

sliced cayenne pepper

What?  You want amounts?

I do it all to taste. 

 Very rarely do I measure when making dipping sauces,

but if I had to, I reckon it's somethin' like this:

1/4 cup orange marmalade

juice of 1 lime

juice from 1-inch knob of ginger

1 tsp chopped cilantro

1/2 tsp sliced fresh red and green cayenne peppers

Note:  About that ginger juice.

Whenever I buy ginger root,

I cut it into 1-inch pieces and freeze them.

When you're ready to use the ginger,
give a chunk 20-25 seconds in the microwave

and you can squeeze the juice out.

I use a garlic press to juice 

and I scrape some of the pulp in the mix too.

Taste test!

Adjust how you like it.

 Soy Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup Tamari sauce

1 garlic clove

juice from 1-inch knob of ginger

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp sugar

1 scallion, sliced

1/2 tsp sliced cayenne pepper

For my next course, I'm having pho,

which is only as far away as my freezer.

If you care to make your own pho broth,

here's how to do it.

It's wonderful to have this on hand.

All you need to dress it up are a few accoutrements.

I found a NY strip in the freezer

which I sliced very thinly.

Easy to do when the meat is still slightly frozen.

Sear the meat in butter and oil over high heat.

Butter for flavor.

Oil to raise the smoke point.

Serve with rice noodles, meat,

jalapeno or cayenne slices, lime slices, scallions,

bean sprouts, clover sprouts, basil, cilantro, and mint.

Rosie is on a roll now!

I was getting ready to make egg rolls

when there was a knock on my door.

My across-the-canal-neighbor, Gervais,

was standing at my door with a package

of hot, right out of the fry pan EGG ROLLS!

Gervais makes most excellent egg rolls.

Serve with a little hot mustard and duck sauce.

For Rosie's egg rolls,

go to Rosie Has A Yen For Egg Rolls.

Time For Pho.

I love a good pho
and pho is never any farther away than my own freezer.
When I make pho broth,
I make a big batch - 5 or so quarts at a time,
and I freeze it.

See my post here to learn how to make the broth.
It is truly ambrosial.
It's a clear broth with delicious umami flavor
developed from a combination of spices
and charred onion and ginger.

I have only made pho bo,
which is made from beef.

There is also a pho ga, made from chicken.
That will have to be another project for me.

Once you've made the broth,
here are the accoutrements.

Sliced shrooms.

Cilantro, basil, mint, scallions, lime, hot peppers.

Pretty dahlias.

Rice noodles and mushrooms.

I never buy any meat that isn't on sale.

I think of it as "aged."

Cut into strips.

You could use all different cuts of meat.

I just happened to have the chuck in the freezer.

Cook noodles according to package directions.

I'm making a little marinade for the meat -

some cornstarch, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.

Pour it over the meat.

More prepared accoutrements:

lime slices

chopped scallions

chopped cilantro, basil, and mint

Minced jalapeno and cayenne.

I sautéed my mushrooms in butter and oil.

Then I sautéed the meat.

Scrape all those goodie bits up.

Oooh.   

Put some bean sprouts in there.

And some other green sprouts.

It's a partay!

Pho is my phavorite.

Pho is exciting.

Different flavors in every spoonful.