Article and Photo by Justin Isaiah Iriarte
Introduction
Hello all and welcome back to Roundabites! I want to start this off by saying that the week I made this pho had been the busiest of my semester thus far. With exams, countless homework assignments, club commitments and my weekly breakfast with friends, I knew I needed to wind down with a comfort recipe to soothe my mind and body. If you’ve been feeling like this lately too, the best advice I could give you is to follow this recipe for pho and take a moment for some much-needed rest and relaxation.
Introducing the Recipe
As this is my second volume of Roundabites, I wanted to start taking suggestions for dishes to cook from various friends and peers. This week, I chose a suggestion for Vietnamese pho from Sunida Siphanthone, a second-year student studying chemical engineering.
“I requested this dish because there aren’t many foods that make me feel relaxed like a good bowl of pho,” Siphanthone said.
Pho is a traditional Vietnamese dish that is known for its aromatic broth, rice noodles and various herbs and spices. Luckily for Siphanthone, my mother knows how to make a great pho and offered her assistance via FaceTime, with the only caveat being that she doesn’t use measurements, so I would have to create a recipe of my own. All I had to say about that was if I could navigate my way around campus amid the Brickyard construction, I could do anything.
Recipe
Ingredients
Broth:
- 4 liters of water
- 4 pounds of marrow soup bones
- See notes below for other options
- 2 large onions, halved and charred
- 1 bulb of garlic, peeled and charred
- 1 hand of ginger, halved lengthwise and charred
- 3 tablespoons of fish sauce
- 1 pho seasoning packet
- I use Oldman Que Huong Brand which is 1.5 oz.
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of salt
Fixings Per Bowl:
- 5 oz. cups flat rice noodles, cooked
- Around 2 oz. uncooked
- Meat of choice
- I prefer pre-cooked chicken
Optional Toppings and Sauces:
- Hoisin Sauce
- Red chili paste
- Sriracha works, but I prefer Huy Fong chili garlic sauce
- Fresh jalapeños
- Lettuce, chopped
- See notes for other suggestions
Instructions
- Prepare bones. Rinse bones under warm water and thoroughly rinse to remove any impurities.
- Charring. Place prepared onions and ginger (cut side down) and peeled ginger cloves on a non-oiled pan until charred and fragrant. Set aside until needed.
- Begin boiling. Pour water into a large stock pot and bring to a boil.
- Add broth ingredients. Add bones, onions, garlic, ginger, spices, salt, sugar and fish sauce.
- Simmer. Drop the heat until soup reaches a slower simmer, cover and cook for three hours.
- Simmer more. Remove the lid and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
- Adjust. This is optional, but at this stage, bones can be removed and set aside to eat with the final soup. Boiled vegetables should now be very soft and cooked so they can be eaten as well, however, for presentation purposes, I usually take them out now. Taste the soup and add sugar and salt at your discretion and palette.
- Prepare bowl. Place noodles (cooked per instructions on the packet) in a bowl. Ladle broth over the noodles until barely covered. Add in desired toppings and sauces. Enjoy!
Justin’s Notes
- Though I opt for marrow bones (as that is how my mom taught me), there are many other options to use. If you want bones that have more meat on them, oxtail is fantastic, as it gets so tender and takes on the flavor of the broth so well. It’s also fine to use beef short ribs. As this is a beef broth-based recipe, as long as you use beef meat/bones, almost anything should work.
- With the last point, for an easier alternative, many people use rotisserie chicken as their meat addition. It turns out fine, however, I’d add in extra seasoning such as beef or chicken bullion, at your discretion.
- The type of pho seasoning you use is also very lenient in this recipe. As I’m just in college, I have neither the time nor money to buy whole spices to use in this, which is why I use premade pho spice packets. If you want to venture into creating your own spice blend, use your own judgment.
- As for toppings, there are so many different fixings that people prefer. At the end of the day, it’s you who is eating your own bowl, so go crazy and use whatever you’d like.
Final Thoughts
Pho is a dish that I hold very fond memories of from my childhood. Taking time to make a dish for dinner isn’t always easy or practical as a student, but if I turn it into an opportunity to invite some friends over and share something I care for so much, I will jump at that chance every time. I enjoyed this pot of pho with my close friends as a precursor for one of their birthday parties. I hope that the recipe and anecdotes from both Siphanthone and I inspire you to try your hand at this dish.
If you’ve been feeling the way I have lately, all I can say is that there is very little that a good bowl of pho can’t fix. Stay safe out there, everyone. Drink water, exercise and, of course, make this pho recipe. As always, thank you for reading, and don’t hesitate to come back for Roundabites volume three!