Pho - A Daring Cooks Challenge!

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

I absolutely LOVE Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup). The last time I had good Pho was back in my home town in Portland, Oregon at Pho Van. I haven't lived there for about... 6 years now? So it's been a while. Well I wound up being very very very lucky with my first Daring Cooks challenge because that is exactly what we were going to be learning to make!


I of course was all excited about making this as I missed it and was hoping it would turn out close to as good as what I remember it being back home. So I asked the hubby what meat he would like me to try this with. He said pork. Now the quick version of this is done with a chicken broth, so you would think chicken broth should be with chicken. Nope doesn't have to be with chicken! Apparently pork, seafood, and vegetarian/vegan versions are made with the same chicken broth(I'm sure vegetable broth would work for vegetarian/vegan versions).

Because I was using pork I had to find some pork that I could slice thinly which wound up being a package of boneless pork steaks. I froze them before cooking so when I took them out of the freezer I was able to cut the fat off the side and then thinly slice the pork easier and thinner than I would if it was thawed (I don't have a meat slicer so knives just have to do!). I also had a horrible time finding star anise(crazy to me considering I'm still not used to NOT being able to find some things like I used to be able to find them back in Portland) but the only way I found it was in an Asian five spice mix that had whole pieces in it that I wound up sifting through to find the star anise in it. The other thing I had difficulty finding were chili peppers that weren't jalapenos. This didn't work so I HAD to use jalapenos, and because the chili pepper incident is very fresh in my mind I made sure to use gloves before slicing.

As for the broths I used the quick way(listed below) but for people who like to take their time (and I definitely will at some point make it this way) here are the links to the long version of the Chicken and the Beef broths that are over on this months challenge hostess, Jaden's, food blog Steamy Kitchen.


Ingredients:
For the Chicken Pho Broth:
2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
4 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
2 quarts (2 liters/8 cups/64 fluid ounces) store-bought or homemade chicken stock
1 whole chicken breast (bone in or boneless)
½ onion
1 3-inch (7.5 cm) chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
1 to 2 tbsps. sugar
1 to 2 tbsps. fish sauce
1 lb. (500 grams/16 ounces) dried rice noodles (about ¼ inch/6 mm wide)

Accompaniments:
2 cups (200 grams/7 ounces) bean sprouts, washed and tails pinched off
Fresh cilantro (coriander) tops (leaves and tender stems)
½ cup (50 grams/approx. 2 ounces) shaved red onions
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
Sriracha chili sauce
Hoisin sauce
Sliced fresh chili peppers of your choice

Directions:
To make the Chicken Pho Broth: heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices to avoid burning.
In a large pot, add all the ingredients (including the toasted spices) and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently.
Use tongs to remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if you have used bone-in breasts.
Taste the broth and add more fish sauce or sugar, if needed. Strain the broth and discard the solids.
Prepare the noodles as per directions on the package.
Ladle the broth into bowls. Then divide the shredded chicken breast and the soft noodles evenly into each bowl.
Have the accompaniments spread out on the table. Each person can customize their own bowl with these ingredients.

The whole purpose to these challenges is to learn something, and this month we were to learn how to toast spices and char onions and ginger to make them more fragrant and flavorful. Toasting the spices wasn't hard at all just make sure to watch them, about 5 minutes tops and they are done. They also make the house smell wonderful! The charred onion and ginger also smell wonderful but take a bit longer. I found at about 400F and 10 minutes they get the little bit of char to them.

Also the main thing you have to make sure you have for this recipe is the fish sauce. I don't think it would taste even close to the same without it. I being a lover of asian sauces used both the hot chili sauce(the bright red) and the hoisin sauce (the darker one. Plum sauce works great with this too). I also used all of the accompanying ingredients on my soup, putting them all into my bowl before tasting.

As I said before I love this type of soup and this was just like the kind I remember from that resturant I used to go to with my mother frequently back in Portland. The hubby loved it like he does most soups. I've since made this with chicken and have done one with mushrooms, both were excellent and I think this will become something we'll be having much more frequently as it's not hard to make, it's healthy, and tastes fantastic!