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I love Pho! Oh man, do I love it. Even on a hot day I will crave this delicious, Vietnamese soup.  Pho is pronounce Fa, not Foe, and there are many different versions of this noodle soup from chicken to shrimp to tripe (cow belly). My favorite is the Pho Bo (Beef Pho), preferably the rare beef soup. This post is going to share with you my Pho-nomenal homemade Pho Bo recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4-5 Beef Bones (knuckle or leg preferably, but any will do. Including Oxtails)
1 whole yellow onion
about 4 nubs of fresh ginger. For this recipe I used one large piece
Spices: 2 Cinnamon stick, 1 tsp Cloves, 1 tsp Fennel Seeds, 1 tsp Pickling Spice, 5 Star Anise, Salt to taste
Chopped Green Onions
Chopped Cilantro
1 gallon of water
Fish Oil
Flank Steak (1-1.5 lbs)
Rice Noodles

Garnish Tray:

Mung Bean Sprouts ( Try sprouting your own like I did!)
Thai Basil
Lime wedges
Jalepeno slices (optional)

Condiments:
Hoisin Sauce
Sriracha Sauce

The first step in making the Pho is to par-boil the bones for about 10 minutes to remove all the yucky stuff. There will be a lot of scum in this process. After they are done boiling you can dump out, rinse the bones and rinse out the pot. Fill with a gallon of fresh water and get ready to make the soup.

Charred onions and ginger

The next step is to cut the yellow onion in half, cut the fresh ginger in half lengthwise and char them. You can either hold them with tongs over an open flame, or I moved my open rack up to the top one and placed them on a cookie sheet under the broiler. Allow ends to get black and charred. It takes about 15 minutes. When finished you can remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool you can remove the oven skin. I pierced the ginger and onion with a knife to help release the flavors.

Now the soup is ready to begin. Put the onions and ginger into the water with the bones, and place the spices in a mesh bag, or cheesecloth and place in the water. Add about 1/4 cup of fish oil and bring to a boil. Add some salt (you can keep adding to taste during the process so start out with a low amount at first) Once it starts to boil turn down to a simmer, cover and let simmer for anywhere from 3-5 hours. Watch it occasionally and stir it, taste it and you can add seasonings accordingly.

When you are almost ready to eat, cook up the rice noodles following the instructions. Remove the beef bones, onions, ginger and spice bag so that all is left is the broth. You can leave it as is, or I like to add chopped green onions and cilantro because I like a lot of veggies in my Pho.

Yummy Extras

Turn the broth back on till it begins to boil for a minute or two. Slice the flank steak, or whatever kind of meat you are using and cut it against the grain while the meat is uncooked. Add the noodles to a bowl, add the hot broth and add the meat in immediately so that it cooks in the broth. I was a little scared of this at first, but I promise you it’s so Pho-king good and cooks up perfectly. If you wish, you can sear the beef on each side before you slice the meat. You can then begin to customize your soup by adding all the fixings. The bean sprouts, some lime juice, yummy basil. I’ve even heard of people adding more cilantro and mint. You can also season with the hoisin sauce and Sriracha making a nice little balance of sweet and hot.

Now for how cheap Pho is, it’s probably easier to just run out and pick some up, but it’s so fun to make your own, and you can impress your friends!

I would love to hear if any of you try this and what you think of it!