Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe | Pho Bo | Beef Noodles Soup

To begin, first place 2 onions and 3-4 oz of ginger in a toaster oven to grill at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. Onions is grilling, get 2 pots of water ready. One is for pot boil the bones and the other is for the soup. For the soup pot, I add 3 liters of water. Meanwhile, get the radish ready, peel and cut into 1-2 inch slice and then half. We're going to put this into the pot later. When the water boils, put the bone in and cook for 5-7 minutes just to pot boil it. You want to clean the bone this way so the soup can stay clear. After 5-7 minutes, take out the bones, put into a separate bowl and rinse or clean them with cold water and put it on a strainer to set aside. The main pot is boiling, we put in the bones and continuously skim out the scum until the foamy scum is a whitish color then turn down the heat to medium low and only add the rest of the ingredients when the soup is in low heat. This way the soup stays clear. So okay, after we lower the heat, add in about 1 teaspoon of salt, okay. The salt is going to keep the broth stay kind of clear. Remember to put on medium low heat. Now we're going to add in a third of the chicken broth. You can use beef broth if you like but I prefer chicken broth. Either way is okay, it's up to your own personal taste. And next, we're going to add in all the white radish into the pot. And after we add all this up, we're going to go ahead and check out the onion and the ginger, see how they're doing. Okay, it has been about 30 minutes now, back to the oven and check on the onions. Wow, the color is perfect and see the juice that come out from the onions, that's what adds more flavor to our soup. Don't worry if the ginger is not brown in color, it still will release a lot of flavor into the soup. You do not need to burn it or to release its flavor. Be careful not to burn your finger, lift the cooking foil and bring out the onions, let it rest. Peel the ginger and slice them in half and then pound with a knife to release its flavor. You can cut the onion if you want but I choose not to, I like it whole to be put into the pot. Okay, so now we're going to put everything into the pot along with the juice from the onions on the foil paper. Just pour them right in there and let it cook for another two more hours. So now we are going to prepare the spices. The package comes with a lot of star anise and cinnamon sticks. You only need to use three star anise and one cinnamon stick for the whole pot. You don't want to use too much of it because they are very strong flavor spices. The package I got doesn't come with coriander, seed and clove so I add a teaspoon of each. And remember, don't toast the spice, you don't want it to burn the spice. You don't need to toast it. Put everything into the bag that they provide you with and put aside for later use. The pot is still cooking, let's get the condiments ready. Peel the onion and cut in half. Thinly slice. You can soak in water to get rid of the odor if you like but I like it as it is. Now we're going to cut the white portion of the scallion into one inch thick and set it aside for later use to put in the pot. And slice the remaining of the scallion into thinly slices. Next, we're going to chop the parsley or the coriander into about half an inch thick and set aside for later serving. Last is the jalapeno. This is optional. You don't have to if you don't want to. It just adds a little spice. So now we're going to go back and check on the soup. Once in a while we should check on it to skim away the foamy top layers and also some of the fat because you don't want too much fat in the soup. But you know, it comes from the bone marrow so it's good anyway so you don't have to skim it all out. But even though it's simmered, it still creates a lot of foam so go back and forth and just keep skimming up the foam there and let it simmer again for a little while. In another small pot of water, we're going to blanch in the beef ball. It comes already pre-cooked so all you need to do is kind of heat it up. We cook it about one or two minutes and then we scoop it out in a bowl and rinse it under warm cold water so it don't get darkening. Next, we're going to slice them in half and then set aside into a bowl for later serving. Then come the noodle. We're just going to cut the noodle in half. It comes very long so it's hard for you to soak it in hot boiling water before you eat. So it's been three hours since we cooked the soup. Now we can add in the rock sugar and the spices. You don't want to add in the spices too soon, usually an hour before we're done with the soup. Today, I'm just going to cook my soup for four hours because I don't have enough time. Next, we're going to add in the salt, the beef powder, and just lightly stir it up. Don't over-stir the soup. You don't want to make it cloudy. You want to stay nice and clear. And after that, you can scoop out the white radish. It's been cooked for three hours. It should be very soft. You can throw it away if you like or you can save it for later. My mom likes to eat this so I'm going to save it for her in a bowl separately. Next, we're going to add the remaining of the chicken broth into the soup. Thinly slice the beef as thin as you can. Then set it aside on a plate for serving later. And now, finally, we're going to add the rest of the white portion of the scallion to the soup and we're done. While the soup is done, you still want to keep it on low heat. During the time you are eating because you might want to go back and have a second bowl. So we're going to blanch the rice noodle into hot water and next, we're going to put the bean sprout and then the thin slice of the beef and the beef balls and the onions partially and the scallion into the bowl first. We want to keep the soup hot so when we pour the soup over the bowl, they will cook the beef and the bean sprout properly before you eat. Just pour it on top like that. You might need to use at least three or four ladles. Now if you like, you can add in the rest of your condiments, cilantro, basil, jalapeno, and a squeeze of lime juice and also the sauce. Enjoy!