Vegetarian Pho

There's a Vietnamese restaurant we like to lunch at occasionally. We can't pronounce the name (it's Pho Que Huong) and we have to order by number (Tanya's is #17B - never anything else), but we always enjoy the food.

So we were pretty excited to find a recipe for Vegetarian Pho (vietnamese noodle soup). It looked easy (a major plus this week), so we gave it a try tonight.

Ingredients -- Broth

• 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 3 large shallots, sliced (1 cup)
• 1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 3 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
• 12 1/4-inch-thick coins fresh ginger
• 1 Tbs. brown sugar
• 1 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 star anise
• 5–6 fresh basil stems, leaves reserved for soup
• 5–6 cilantro stems, leaves reserved for soup

Ingredients -- Pho

• 1 8-oz. pkg. rice noodles
• 1 8-oz. pkg. Asian-flavor baked tofu, thinly sliced
• 2 cups soybean sprouts
• 2 cups watercress
• 4 green onions, sliced (1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions:

1. To make Broth: Place all ingredients in large pot with 8 cups water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 1 hour. Strain broth, and return to pot. Discard solids.

2. To make Pho: Cook rice noodles according to package directions. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Divide among 6 large soup bowls. Ladle Broth over noodles, and top with tofu, sprouts, watercress, and green onions. Serve cilantro, basil, and lime wedges on the side to be stirred into soup.

3. Eat.


Review:

Chef Tanya -- My friend Kelly says he's been looking for a Pho recipe. The one he'd tried was meh. This one's better than meh. Not wow, but tasty.

Jason -- It was fine.

Hannah -- The noodles are too weird. They're skinny.

Olivia -- Yeah, the noodles are gross! And the tofu is gross!


(Kelly.... it's not a #17B, but you might want to try it.)