Vietnamese Beef Pho

Summer has officially arrived in New Orleans. And I’m not talking about 70 or 80 degrees. Nah, we’ve had that for the last three months. I’m talking about the 90s! Along with its equivalent percentage in humidity. This means I’m ready to eat much lighter dishes. Unfortunately Cajun/Creole cuisine doesn’t offer many options that aren’t like gut grenades, so I’ve been looking to our Vietnamese population for inspiration lately.

One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is their good old beef soup known as Pho (pronounced in a way that makes Americans sound exasperated). It’s similar to Gumbo in that everyone makes it a little different, adding their own style, especially since its served with a huge variety of herbs and sauces. The soup normally starts with a broth base from ox bones cooked for hours, but city mommas like me ain’t got dat kinda time! If I move to a farm I’ll totally slaughter an ox and cook its bones, but for now I’m a bit space challenged for that. I don’t even have a garage!

Anyway, I made this cheatin’ version that was yummy, healthy, and fast – three requirements to be considered a regular in my kitchen. It took me under 20 minutes to throw together, and this batch makes about 4 large meal-sized bowls. Here’s how to do it…

INGREDIENTS:
For the soup:
2 lbs flank steak
7 oz wide rice noodles
1 tbsp canola oil
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 small heads bok choy
For the side:
Thai basil
Mung bean sprouts
Jalapeños
Cilantro
Limes
Soy Sauce
Sriracha, Hoisin or other Asian sauces

If possible, make a trip out to your garden for this one. Currently I’m able to provide the Thai Basil…

And the jalapeños… Oh damn, I just noticed some critter munched on my jalapeño leaf on the right there. Grr!

Now pull all of your ingredients together.

Slice the beef thin like this. Against the grain.

Give the bok choy a rough chop, and only use the green part.

Put 1 tbsp of canola oil into pot, and heat up on high. Then sear the hell out of the beef until it’s browned and cooked through. This takes only about two minutes. Do not overcook!

Transfer the beef out of the pot to another plate.

You should have a nice beef broth in the bottom of the pot.

Now add the bok choy and stir until wilted, about 2 minutes.

Then add the chicken stock and water and stir. Bring it back up to a boil.

Once boiling again, add the wide rice noodles and soy sauce. Cook until noodles are soft, about 5 minutes.

Now the beef can return from its timeout. Put it back in the pot with everyone else and cook until just warmed through again. Soup part is done!

Oooooh, wait, I forgot a few after-fixin’s you’re going to need – fresh lime and Sriracha sauce (pronounced S#$@&%!A. Ok, not really). You can find it at your local weird-ass foods store.

Put all the fresh greens (and whites) on a plate to serve nearby, along with soy sauce, Sriracha, and any other Asian sauces you prefer (Hoisin sauce is a great one for this too). Everyone will want to add different stuff. For instance, you will not find fresh jalapeño on mine!

Now serve it up into bowls like this…

And when everyone adds some foliage it should look like this…

Et voilà! That’s a busy city momma’s version of Pho. It’s light and fresh and won’t sink me to the bottom of the swimming pool this summer like a bowl of Crawfish Etouffee would. Speaking of that, I’m definitely going to look into healthifying some of the Cajun/Creole dishes too.

Bon appétit,
-Pistolette