Continuing with the theme of Vietnamese style cooking, my daughter asked for pho. This was my first attempt, and as I've said before, I am still learning.
Ingredients:
1 package (8 oz.) frozen pork balls
2 cans (4 cups) beef broth
1/2 inch ginger
1/4 large yellow onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
3 sprigs Thai basil
2 springs fresh cilantro
Salt and Pepper
Rice noodles
Dice the ginger and onions. Put the garlic in a garlic press.
Put the broth, soy sauce and fish sauce in a large pot. Add the ginger, onion and garlic. Bring to a slow simmer.
Season the pork balls with salt and pepper. In a bowl, add the basil and cilantro.
Once the broth is at a simmer, add the pork balls. Cook for about 30 minutes.
Add boiling water to the rice noodles. Place the noodles in a bowl once softened. Add soup.
Now, I made the rookie mistake. I put the noodles in the soup straight from the package. They soaked up the broth. Not bad if you want the noodles to have that broth taste. But, I had less broth. So, I added water and a little soy sauce.
My daughter didn't think it was bad. But I'd do the rice noodles differently. Plus, we bought the really thin noodles. I think next time, we will do the thicker noodles.
Another "mistake" was that I left the soup on low heat while we ate. The broth reduced more, so there was very little soup. But, since I had made the Vietnamese style pork chops, I just added the noodles to the bowl with the remaining pork chop. I left it for my teenager when he came home. He praised the dish while eating it. (It's so gratifying to cook for a teenage boy!)
