Vietnamese Beef and Noodle Broth

Last night thought I would try something different and a friend gave me their latest Waitrose magazine and to my delight I found a few exciting recipes to try out one being Vietnamese Beef and Noodle Broth. So a quick trip to the supermarket to get some fresh ingredients I had my recipe challenge for the evening.

The recipe takes it’s inspiration from the classic pho bo a traditional Vietnamese dish.I back packed around Vietnam for a few weeks with my sister a few years so was really excited last night to try this classic Vietnamese recipe.

Vietnamese Beef and Noodle Broth – Serves: 2

• 1 litre fresh beef stock
• 2 salad onions
• 30g fresh root ginger, sliced
• 1 star anise
• ¼ small cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 175g lean beef steak, very thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (optional)
• 1 lime, juice
• A few red chilli slices, bean sprouts, mint and coriander

Vietnamese Beef and Noodle Broth Recipe Steps

Soak the rice noodles in boil water 5 minutes (or as directed on packet).

Meanwhile, bring the stock, salad onion trimmings, ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick and bay leaf to the boil with 200ml water in a pan.

NB. I added a small amount of a gluten free stock cube here for added flavour and only used 500ml of beef stock as it seemed enough to me.

Reduce the heat and simmer the broth gently for 15 minutes.

Drain the rice noodles, divide between two bowls; top with the sliced beef. I was a bit confused here as the beef was still raw, this is correct though. So it’s imperative to make sure the steak is a) good quality b) really thinly sliced (my butcher sliced mine for me).

Strain the hot broth; return it to the pan over the heat. Stir in the fish sauce (optional – check this is wheat free etc where required) and lime juice. Ladle the broth over the beef and noodles, adding the salad onions to finish. Top with the chilli slices, bean sprouts, mint etc.

Vietnamese Beef and Noodle Broth verdict:

How easy…	A nice and different recipe to make took just 30mins to make and pretty much all store cupboard ingredients.
Taste	Brought back memories of Vietnam and tasted really cleansing. The steak is so soft and delicate – for someone look for a protein kick this is perfect.
Cook again	Fantastic simple recipe with a really different taste and has given me ideas for lots of different combos so will be on the menu again.

If you fancy something different for an evening meal this week give this Vietnamese Beef and Noodle Broth ago.