Ingredients
Broth
- Vegetable broth (8 cups)
- Water (2-3 cups)
- 1 yellow onion
- 4-6 garlic cloves
- 1 thumb length ginger
- Spinach
- Garam masala*
- Turmeric
- Soy sauce
- Chili oil
Food items
- Sesame Oil
- Wide rice noodles
- Shiitake mushrooms
- Tofu
Garnishes
- Bean sprouts
- Thai red chili peppers
- Thai basil
- Green onion
Directions
My experience wound up being relatively straightforward, but I’d recommend reading through all the steps once before begining, so you know where you can multitask and where you cannot. :-)
The Broth
Sautee the onions and garlic on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Add vegetable broth and water. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to simmer. Add ginger, garam masala (I didn’t measure, but maybe 2 tbsp?), turmeric (maybe 1 tbsp?) and soy sauce (1-2 tbsp) to taste. I added ~1 tbsp chili oil (for the heat, but let’s be honest, it’s mostly because the one I own has MSG). Let the soup simmer for as long as you can stand it (20-30 minutes). In the last 5-10 minutes, add some spinach for health reasons (yay iron).
* You can use more traditional sounding ingredients to flavour the broth: cloves, star anise, cinnamon, etc., but these ingredients are staples of a garam masala spice mix, so I simply opted for the cheaper, easier option that comes with a few bonus flavours.
The Mushrooms
In the meantime, sautee the shiitake mushrooms in a nice little mix of sesame and grapeseed oil (or whatever your preference is). Lightly salt, pepper and/or lemon the mushrooms near the end of their experience in the pan so as to accent their natural savoury flavour. When they’ve seen a nice little fry, take ‘em off the heat and set them aside.
Optional idea: add the mushrooms right into the broth so that the broth picks up that savoriness. I didn’t do this, because I wanted to retain that fried ‘shroom texture.
The Noodles
While you’re frying the mushrooms, bring some water to a boil in yet another pot that you’ll have to wash later. Boil the rice noodles until they’re done. When they’re finished, pour them into a strainer to get rid of the water, and run them under cold water to bring down their temperature. Pour a tbsp of sesame oil over them so they don’t stick together and then serve into bowl(s).
The Tofu
The rule with tofu in pho is: the more kinds you generate, the happier you’ll be. Pho is about variety!
The simplest way to prep some protein for the pho is to cut up a block of firm tofu into bricks and to add them directly into the broth to soak up the flavour.
Additionally, you could dry fry about half of the bricks in a pan until they stop “screaming”. They’ll come out golden brown and crispy, with a unique texture that I find very appealing.
Galaxy brain: marinate the tofu in a mix of oil and nutritional yeast. Sautee until golden and slightly crispy.
Finally, you could also buy a block of smoked tofu (or “Sriracha tofu”) and use them for protein-filled pho toppings.
The Garnishes
To prepare the garnishes, pluck the basil from its leaves; chop the green onion, rinse the bean sprouts, and chop the Thai red chilis into thin rounds like you did the green onion. Serve on a plate so that each dinner guest can add garnishes to their liking. Augment with a dish of soy sauce and one of chili oil, Sriracha, etc.
Serving
With the noodles already in soup bowls, add a small pile of shiitakes on one side of the bowl, add tofu piles in other parts of the bowl, and add a small pile of sprouts in the centre. Ladle soup over the contents in the bowl and make sure that the noodles are nicely covered with broth. Add garnishes as desired. Enjoy!