I just found this buried deep within the archives of my blog….forgotten, unpublished and without a pic, but I figured I’d just post it anyway, since we’re in Vietnam right now….and it’s kind of a westernized version of Vietnamese Pho.

This is one of our favorite recipes from Beverly Leblanc’s recipe book called Soups: 365 Delicious and Nutritious Recipes. It’s fairly easy to make, pretty healthy, and hearty enough to call a meal. The only changes we make are substituting beef broth instead of beef stock, we add thai chilis to the simmer, and we add basil as one of the herbal garnishes. This time we forgot to throw the red peppers into the simmer, so we ended up adding them at the end…it was still good, but I’d definitely not forget them again.

Recipe

Serves 3-4 hungry people.

2 cartons Pacific Foods Organic Beef Broth
1 1/2 pounds top sirloin, cut into thin strips (against the grain)
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 1/2 inch section of gingerroot, peeled and minced (we usually do a little more than this)
4-5 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom  seeds
1- 1 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
1 package of rice noodles (pad thai size…vermicelli rice noodles work fine too)
3 thai chilis
lime cut into wedges
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
handful of mint, chopped
handful of thai basil (or regular), chopped
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 large jalapeño, sliced
1 cup of beansprouts

Instructions:

1. Soak bean sprouts in cold water until ready to use.

2. In a large soup pot combine beef broth, thai chilis, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom seeds and fish sauce, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add bell peppers for the last few minutes until they have softened.

3. Pre-cook noodles according to package.

4. Remove spices from pot with chopsticks, slotted spoon, or other utensil.

5. In deep serving bowls combine beef (uncooked), noodles and bean sprouts. Pour boiling (or near boiling) broth over the top and garnish with cilantro, mint, basil, jalapeño, green onions and lime.

We love our asian condiments, so we usually also serve it with sambal, siracha, spicy black bean sauce…you get the picture….anything spicy we have in the fridge will usually end up in the soup, but it’s also delicious when served a bit more mild.

We’re soup addicts and usually make soup(from scratch) atleast once a week, so we’ve loved using Beverly LeBlanc’s Soups: 365 Delicious and Nutritious Recipescookbook. I don’t think it is being published anymore, but I’ve seen used copies for cheap on Amazon.