How to Make Your Own Pho, Because Takeout Isn’t Cheap

This weekend, I took an adventure through an exotic food lover’s heaven, the Hong Kong Supermarket. If you don’t love cooking already, this place will inspire you. It has a farmer’s market vibe with all the freshest fruits and veggies, but the meat and seafood is where it’s at. With live shellfish and exotic cuts of meat and organs, a walk through the market is like visiting a foreign land sans the plane ticket. Though exciting, all the newness was a little intimidating. Where to start, where to start…

I settled on attempting a dish I had never made at home before but had been a long time favorite of mine: pho. If you don’t already know, pho is a Vietnamese brothy soup filled with noodles and meat or whatever else your heart desires. I didn’t really know where to begin with attempting my own recipe, so I did what any clueless college student does and googled it. All the recipes I saw seemed really complex and included a ton of spices and ingredients I’d never heard of before. Luckily, I was at the perfect place to find all those things. And better yet, the Hong Kong Supermarket has “for dummies” type premade ingredients for pho beginners.

All the recipes I saw seemed really complex and included a ton of spices and ingredients I’d never heard of before. Luckily, I was at the perfect place to find all those things. And better yet, the Hong Kong Supermarket has “for dummies” type pre-made ingredients for pho beginners.

While I’m certainly not close to being a pho expert, this recipe is simple, delicious, and incredibly fun. Plus, it’ll give you an excuse to leave the Emory bubble and go see a different side of the beautiful city we live in.

Pho

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 30 minutesCook time:2 hours Total time:2 hours 30 minutesServings:2 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pho bac beef broth
• 8 oz bahn pho noodle
• 1 sliced eye round steak
• 1 cup pho spice medley
• 4 ginger
• 1 white onion
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 limes, to serve
• 1 cup bean sprouts, to serve
• 1 cup fresh basil, to serve
• Hoisin sauce, chili paste, to serve

Instructions

1. 
   

   Prepare ginger and onion by quartering and placing on baking sheet with vegetable oil. Broil for about 5 minutes.

2. 
   

   Heat both cans of broth in a pot on medium heat.

    

3. 
   

   Add spice medley, ginger, onion, fish sauce, soy sauce to broth. Let simmer for around 2 hours.

    

4. 
   

   Cook noodles according to package directions. Place in bowl to serve. Place slices of raw steak on top of noodles.

    

5. 
   

   Strain the broth mixture to remove herbs and solids.

    

6. 
   

   Pour broth over noodles and steak to serve. This will cook the meat.

    

7. 
   

   Add basil, lime, bean sprouts to serve.

• Asian
• Dinner
• Winter