Homemade Phở?!

Today I underwent the ambition of making homemade phở, specifically phở bò, beef phở. I found this recipe in Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite and made some of my own changes. I did some research and compared a few differnent phở recipes to the one in this book and found them pretty similar, so I decided to go for it.

The first step is to marinade the beef. Ramsay reccomends that you slice your own beef, however, I prefer to buy it already sliced. Look for finely sliced beef that is usually intended to fondue or hot pot. This meat works perfectly and will save you the trouble of trying to get such a thin slice on your own.

I realize this is not the most beautiful picture... but it is what it is....

The beef is marinaded in ginger, garlic, sesame oil, a little salt and pepper. You must leave it sit for 30-40 minutes. I marinaded mine in a pie dish and covered it with plastic wrap (and stored it in the fridge of course).

Next onto making the broth.  In Ramsay's recipe it suggests you make your own beef stock, however for anyone who has made stock of some sort before, they know this is a time consuming process. Instead I used pre-made stock that I purchased (you know the kind in the carton). This will save you time (we're talking hours here) and probably some money too because beef stock is not that expensive.
You throw in some cloves, some fish sauce (Nuoc Mam), some star anise, cardamom, pepper and some ginger, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. After that, you want to strain the spices out and put it aside for later.

This is how my broth looked after it was finished cooking and was strained.

Next onto the noodles. It is important to get the right noodles. What you are looking for are rice noodles. It helps to know the vietnamese name for the noodles so you get the right kind. They are called Banh Pho. There is a thin size and a medium size and a large size. I used large, but next time I think I might use the thin ones. When they are in the package they look like so:

Just follow the instructions on the package to cook them

Once they are cooked, strain them and toss them with a bit of sesame oil (I also read that you should put a small bowl in the middle of the colander to keep them from clumping together in the middle).

This is how the look when cooked!

The next step is assembling the bowl. This again is where the recipe and I differ. I arranged mine in a more typical pho fashion. Where the recipe says you should throw the beef (and some bean sprouts that I didn't use) into the pot to cook for 30 seconds before, I put it in the bowl on top of the noodles.

Next you pour the hot broth over the noodles and beef...

Now, I know the beef looks pretty rare here, if you mix it in quickly, it will cook all the way (which I did after I took this picture). I served it up with some hoisin sauce and sriracha. You may notice I did not serve it with all those traditional additional elements (bean sprouts, lime, cilantro, mint, etc) but that is simply because my fiance and I never put them in our soup. But I totally encourage people to go ahead and serve it with theirs! I was really excited to try out this recipe. I love phở, and I was worried that my homemade phở would not stand up to the test... but I have to say, I was really impressed! It was a lot more flavourful than the phở from the restaurant. The beef was so tender and delicious. As I mentioned before I would like to use thinner noodles next time. I am thinking that maybe next time I will add more stock to the mixture because as the meal went on, I found the broth a bit rich.  I will definitely make this again! Well, that's all for today, until next time, happy munching!

An Exotic Snack

 Perhaps you have seen this strange fruit in the store.... perhaps you have not.... this exotic treat is called dragon fruit, or pitaya. It is the fruit of cactus. The skin is not edible, but the inside is delicious. It is often likened to a kiwi because its texture and the presence of tiny black edible seeds. The presence of dragon fruit is popular in drinks and smoothies as well it is delicious eaten raw. One must simply cut it in half, scoop out the white flesh and remove any remaining skin, and then it can be prepared as you like. It has a very mild taste and is low in calories. It is also not sour at all, but instead a slightly sweet.
I saved my skin and used them as serving bowls to serve the cut up pieces of flesh from the inside.

I hope that I have piqued your interest! I highly recommend that next time you see this fruit in the store that you try it out! It is exotic, fun and very tasty! Well, that's all for today! Until next time, happy munching!

Cool as a Cucumber

Today I used a bento with fixed dividers. I mainly chose this box because it had a big enough space to hold my sandwich, and a solid divider that would allow "wet" food not to spill or spread onto other foods. Inside as a cucumber sandwich, a mandarin, a few pieces of beef pepperoni and swiss cheese, an individually wrapped mochi and on the other side is glazed carrots and pistachios. You may also notice I included a cute little pick shaped like a panda bear (this was given to me as a gift for my birthday, its part of a set of adorable animal picks).

Though cute, the downside of this box is that the lid does not have a very tight seal. Consequently, I had to be very careful to carry it upright or else risk the glaze from the carrots leaking all over the other foods, and possibly all over the bag. I just avoided putting the bento in my bag and carried it in the bento bag, it worked out just fine. :)

And here's the cute little bag that I packed it up in!  Well that's all for today, until next time, happy munching!