Vietnamese ~Beef Pho Recipe.

Vietnamese Pho

Ingredients

For the beef stock (Broth)

3kg of beef bones (with some meat on the bones)

2 kg of Sirloin steak, brisket or rump

6 litres of water

Pho Spices

1 cinnamon stick

7 star anise

1 tablespoon of Coriander seeds

9 whole cloves

4 cardamom pods

1 tablespoon of fennel seeds.

•  Dry roast the above spices in a pan for about 1 minute (this will release the oils of the spices)
• Place the spices in a mesh bag or muslin

100g of ginger. Cut lengthways in two.

2 large onions cut in two.

Using a roasting tray, sprinkle a tiny bit of rapeseed or sunflower oil to the ginger and onions. In a 200*c pre heated oven and grill, add some ice cube to the bottom tray and place the ginger and onion in the oven.

Cook for about 15 minutes till the onions and ginger char. See below

100 ml of fish sauce

1 tablespoon of palm sugar or molasses 

3kg of rice noodles

1 teaspoon of salt

To serve

A bunch of Coriander, Basil, Mint and Lovage

2 limes quartered

Hoisin sauce

Hot chilli sauce (I used Tabasco sauce)

Chopped Spring onions, Chillies, 

Optional ( bean-sprouts, carrot ribbons, Bok Choy or your favourite vegetables)

Method

• In a stock pot or deeper saucepan, place the beef bones with 2 litres of water. Boil on a high heat for 15 minutes. This enables you to get rid of the impurities of the bones. (i.e fat, scum from the blood etc)
• Discard the water and run the bones under cold water and wash the saucepan. 
• Place the stock pot with 4 litres of water, the bones, charred onions, ginger, sugar, fish sauce and the spice bag and place on a medium heat for 3 hrs.
• Add salt to taste. 

This stock will serve 12 people easily. You can freeze the stock and use at a later date. 

Using a small saucepan on a low heat, strain about 500ml of stock , add your thinly sliced Sirloin (which I used in this instance. You can use whatever meat you prefer). 

Add a handful of fresh rice noodles, chopped chillies, coriander, basil, lovage, mint, spring onions.

Take the saucepan off the heat and pour the soup into a bowl. Just add some fish sauce and squeeze some lime juice and voila your mouth explodes with flavours.

Then I added the meat off the bones 

This is after I added the fish sauce, tabasco sauce, hoisin sauce and lime juice.

Enjoy!

Healthy Meals

I am enjoying loosing weight by changing my eating habits completely, combined with exercises. I am learning and researching about the nutrients in food I eat. My research allows me to make informed choices in creating healthy recipes.

 I have 2 stones to loose to hit my target weight.

I will update my blog with what i eat and my exercise regime. 

Recipes will be updated on a weekly basis.

Butter bean and chickpea stew with baked chicken

Beans are rich in vitamin B6, folate, fiber, protein, thiamine, manganese, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc and pottasium. They are also a good source for Vitamin K, pathogenic acid, calcium, selenium and antioxidants). 

There are different varieties of beans and many contain toxic compounds such as phytohemagglutinins, with kidney beans having the highest.

To destroy the toxins soak beans for five hours and always bring to the boil of 100*c exceeding the boiling point for at least 10 minutes.

Tuna, red onion and yoghurt mix with baked sweet potato

Sweet Potato is rich in beta-carotene, vitamins A, B6 & C, fiber, niacin,riboflavin, pantothenic acid, manganese, magnesium, potassium, copper, protein, calcium and iron.

Tuna is high in protein,vitamins, minerals and omega 3 fatty acid,low in fat

Onions are high in antioxidant flavonoids and phenols, good source of vitamin B6 &C, potassium and manganese

Pan fried chicken breast on a bed of spiced okra (ladies fingers)

~~Okra is high in Vitamins C, K, A and B6, folate, fiber, niacin, riboflavin, manganese, calcium, copper, potassium and anti oxidants.

Pan fried crispy skin red snapper with brown crab sauce and parsley and chilli pesto

Sesame encrusted tuna with cucumber and spring onion salad

Tuna mixed with red onions on a bed of green salad and plum tomatoes

A perfect meal for brunch, lunch and dinner