Pho, The Making Of

Took my first stab at making pho. I was pretty happy with the results, but it still has a way to go.

I started by making a chicken stock. I started with a bunch of chicken bones, took the water to a boil, added an egg white, and after 5 minutes dumped the contents. This was done to remove all the excess crap from the chicken and create a clear stock.

After returning the chicken bones, I added carrots, onions, garlic, ginger, coriander seeds, juniper berries, and cardamom. I'm not sure if I'd use the last two again, and if I did, I'd use less. Added water to cover, brought to a boil, covered, reduced to simmer, and went to Oktoberfest. When I returned home, I (carefully!) filtered the contents and retained the stock. The carrots went to my dog, Lucy. She was happy.

The next day, I returned a portion of the stock to pot, added chicken breast that I had poached the previous night. After simmering for a few minutes, I added green onions, cilantro, basil, and the juice of half a lime. I let that simmer, added rice noodles, and served.

Next time I will adjust the ingredients of the stock, the proportion of lime juice, and try to find thai basil.

Though I wouldn't do this (!!!), you could make this with vegetable stock and use tofu in lieu of chicken.

Alright, this one requires a good amount of effort and time.  Still, it's worth it, and you can do it!  Feel free to use a pre-made stock- it will be easy to do if you go that way.