What the.........PHO #$%!

I hope I didn't startle you with that title--- I swear I didn't mean to!

Vietnamese rice noodle soup= Pho (pronounced Fuh)= veggies, some lean meat/tofu and some rice noodles in a delicious broth; healthy, simple, quick and delicious. And it is also a great dish to whip up when you are running low on that zeal for cooking. Exactly what happened to me as the day went by and so, it was Pho for dinner tonight.

Now usually when you order Pho at a restaurant, they pour some piping hot broth over a heap of veggies and meat or tofu and rice noodles in a humongous bowl and top it off when some chopped green onion and bean sprouts. But I just prefer that one-pot style for my everyday cooking, especially if the food is going to be eaten as soon as it is cooked. If I were to make this for a later meal, I would keep the noodles separate and add them in later, just before eating.

Ingredients: 

1. Different vegetables- I took some carrots*, green beans, cabbage, bell pepper and mushrooms.

The Veggies

 *I "cut" my carrots by peeling them-- so basically, instead of using a knife, I just kept peeling them with my peeler into beautiful thin err, peels (?). Not sure about the terminology here.........

2. Vegetable stock (you could use any kind- beef, chicken etc).

3. Rice noodles (any kind of thin noodles will work just fine).

4. Salt to taste- you won't really need much of this as the stock itself has salt, freshly ground pepper.

Method:

1. I started off as usual with my pot. Poured in a whole carton of veggie stock. Alternately you could use bouillon cubes and dissolve in water and make the stock. And then switched on the stove.

2. Once the stock came to a boil, I added the veggies into the boiling stock and a pinch of salt and covered the pot for 5 minutes on low flame to allow the veggies to sort of cook. You want to sort of cook them and yet keep them crunchy.

3. After 5 minutes, I added a handful of rice noodles into the pot, increased the flame and let it all boil for 3 minutes exact and switched it off. Covered the pot and let it all hang out.

Pho in a Pot

4. In the end I added some chopped green onion and freshly ground pepper and there, Pho was ready!

Pho in a bowl

When you pour piping hot broth onto a heap of vegetables and noodles, sure, it tastes fine, but usually the noodles and the veggies taste bland. That's the Pho you get at a restaurant. Not when you make it my way, though. My one-pot method allows for more flavorful vegetables and noodles as they get more time to hang out in the broth.

So even though my zeal for cooking was low as the day went by, dinner turned out delicious. So has that zeal returned? I'll know tomorrow!

Note: Interestingly:   http://www.whatthepho.net/