I'm Crazy Pho You!

I've never been to Vietnam, so suffice to say that I have never really tasted Pho in all it's authentic goodness. But I'd like to think that after going to a few Vietnamese restaurants and the trial and error of going through several recipes, that my version comes pretty close.

Pho is so simple, it practically cooks itself. You can easily pop in it the slow cooker in the morning and have delicious, delicious magical soup waiting for you after work. The recipe I'm sharing with you today is based in a pot and cooks for about an hour, but really the longer you can cook it the better. You want to really leech the goodness out of the beef bones. Yum.

I apologise for the photo quality, but please be assured that this is infact a pot of beef marrow bones. This is pretty much the cheapest thing to cook up ever - these bones cost me less than $2 for a pot of soup that will give me three massive bowls full. I'll be eating it 'pho' days, haha. Ugh. Nevermind. If you can't find them in the freezer section in your supermarket, ask at the counter. Or better yet, support your local small butcher; the price wont be much different and you're helping a local business instead of a massive corporation.

So anyway, stick those suckers in the bottom of your pot and top with the following:

• One roughly chopped onion. Most recipes just ask you to chop it in half so you can remove it when everything is done cooking, but I like bits in my Pho, so I chop it roughly and leave it in.
• Three cloves of garlic, also roughly chopped. I can't impress enough the need to use local garlic grown near you! Not that nasty bleached imported from China stuff. You can tell the difference because local garlic will generally still have roots attached and wont be unnaturally white! You will taste the difference and never go back, I promise.
• Two whole Star Anise.I know cooking with Star Anise can be scary, but I promise it doesn't make everything taste like Aniseed. When used in a soup like this, it imparts a very subtle smoky sweet taste that you can't replicate with anything else. Embrace the Star Anise.
• Five nice long slices of fresh Ginger. Don't use ginger paste, gross.
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Fish Sauce. Bottles of this are pretty cheap, with maybe a couple of dollars between the cheapest and the best. Go for the good stuff.
• 1 Tablespoon of Sesame Oil
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce - again, do yourself a favour and don't skimp on quality. It really is worth the investment.
• The juice of one fresh lime.

• Now top the pot up with water so it covers the bones and other ingredients nicely, with maybe an inch extra over that height. Get the water temperature up to a nice roiling simmer and then turn it right down low with a lid on, so it just happily cooks away for an hour or longer. The longer the better.

• Every half an hour or so if you're doing it in a pot, just give it a check and skim off any of the scum that rises to the top as it tends to hold the toxins from any fatty tissues left on the meat.

• See floating scum pictured above.
• When things have been simmering away for a few hours, just use some tongs to pluck out the ginger and star anise. Then grab out the bones with the tongs and use a couple of forks to separate the meat off the bones and add the meat back into the soup.
• Then for the last 15min to half an hour of cooking, it's time to add the last ingredients.

• Recipes say to add 1/4 cup of Sriracha but I tend to just gob in a couple of squirts. It maybe works out to just over a tablespoon or so. Enough to give it some warmth without overwhleming the other delicate flavours.
• The juice of another lime
• Some chopped up leafy greens - I've used Shang Hai, but you can use spinach, kale, Bok Choi... what ever takes your fancy
• A teaspoon of salt
• About five minutes before serving throw in your rice noodles and two finely diced spring onions and a nice big handful of finely chopped coriander (cilantro). Love me some coriander.
• Serve with a decent handful of mung beans. You can top with any other vegetables you fancy as well - snow peas, fincly sliced green chili, capsicum, mushrooms - all those delicious things.

Serve and eat in vast quantities, because not only is Pho super tasty, it's also really good for you. Making a soup from bone broth is very gentle on the tummy, so it's perfect if you have been unwell and can help settle the symptoms of leaky gut. It's also good for people with chronic illness and auto immune disorders, which tend to originate in the gut as well. It supports your own bone health, helping to reduce joint pain and inflammation. It's even fanastic for you hair and nails - what's not to love?