So on a cloudy day I tend to have a craving for soups which are one of my ultimate comfort foods. After testing several batches and meeting with some Vietnamese shop owners I found the perfect combination of ingredients to make my Vegetarian Pho. I love Pho! Pho is not pronounced as it is spelled in fact one of my best friend’s is Vietnamese and makes a point to correct everyone that mispronounces pho. Pho is pronounced fuh and is a Vietnamese soup made with spices, noodles, and some type of beef or chicken stock or in my case a vegetarian pho.
So back to pho, I love slurping the pho noodles and how everyone at the table adds their own variation of ingredients to make their pho just right. It’s a beautiful soup to make that everyone will love and can feed several people. Whenever my allergies act up I get a nice piping hot bowl of pho and load it up with sriracha to clear my sinuses up. It’s the Vietnamese version of chicken noodle soup. My version of vegetarian pho eliminates animal broth and fish sauce this is a hard task and requires certain Vietnamese pho spices such as star anise, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, licorice, pepper, rock sugar and the addition of vegetarian fish sauce and soy sauce. A perfect pho is the combinations of sweet and tart and kicked up with the tang of fresh lime juice and the spice of a Thai chili and my favorite- sriracha. So, if you have a case of the blues, or are feeling under the weather and need a good pick me up then try my vegetarian pho. I swear it’s amazing just make sure to add lime juice and sriracha- because together it makes everything taste better.
Vegetarian Pho
Printable Version
Yield: Serves 8-12 Total Time: 30-45 minutes
Ingredients:
-24 Cups of Water
-Kosher Salt
-3 oz. Vietnamese Pho Spices
(Star Anise, Cardamom, Clove,
Cinnamon, Licorice, Pepper)
-1/4 Cup of Rock Sugar
-1 Cup of Vegetarian Fish Sauce
-1 Cup of Soy Sauce
-Fresh Thai Basil
-2 Cups of Fresh Bean Sprouts
-12 Carrots
-12 Limes
-1 Bunch of Fresh Cilantro
-12 Baby Bok Choy
-3 lb.- 5 lb. Bag of Fresh Rice Stick
Noodles
-12 Thai Chilies (Bird’s Eye Chili)
Equipment Needed:
-Cutting Board
-Knife
-Measuring Cup
-Wooden Spatula
-Ladle
-2 Large Pots
-Serving Bowls
-Colander
-Peeler
-Mandolin Kitchen Slicer
Prep:
-Get a cutting board and sharp knife
-Peel 12 large carrots and chop off the ends and discard the ends
-Slice 12 large peeled carrots with a mandolin kitchen slicer and set aside
-Rinse the baby bok choy and slice off the end and discard the end, remove the baby
bok choy leaf by leaf and set aside
-Rinse the fresh Thai basil and remove the leaves from the stem, discard the stem and
set the leaves aside
-Rinse 2 cups of fresh bean sprouts and set aside
-Rinse a bunch of fresh cilantro and set aside
-Slice 12 limes and set aside
Directions:
Pho Broth
-Get a pot and put it on the stove and turn the gas/electric knob to a medium to high
setting
-Pour 14 cups of water into the pot
-Pour 3 oz. of Vietnamese pho spices (star anise, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, licorice,
pepper)
-Pour ¼ cup of rock sugar into the pot with the spices
-Pour 1 cup of vegetarian fish sauce into the pot with the spices
-Pour ½ cup of soy sauce into the pot with the spices
-Mix ingredients with a wooden spatula until rock sugar is dissolved
-Taste, if too sweet add the remaining ½ cup of soy sauce to the pot and mix
-Let Pho Broth simmer on a low to medium setting
Pho Noodles
-Get a pot and put it on the stove and turn the gas/electric knob to a medium to high
setting
-Pour 6-10 cups of water into the pot (depending on pot size)
-Add a dash of Kosher salt into the pot with water and let boil
-After the water is boiling then put in the 3lb- 5lb fresh rice stick noodles and let cook
for 2-3 minutes or until tender and soft
-After noodles are cooked remove the noodles and place in a colander and rinse with
cool water
Vegetarian Pho
-Get serving bowls and a ladle
-Ladle the broth into the bowl
-Add the drained rice stick noodles into the broth in the bowl
-Add sliced carrots, baby bok choy, and sprouts into the bowl
-Garnish the bowl with cilantro, Thai basil, sliced lime, extra sprouts, Thai Chili
-Squeeze lime into the broth in the bowl
-Add ½ a teaspoon of sriracha into the broth in the bowl, mix, and taste, add more
sriracha if you prefer it a bit spicier
-Repeat this process until finished
-Serve
*****Feel free to add more of the ingredients and season to suit your taste buds*****