Ingredients
- 1 litre good-quality beef stock
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 knob ginger
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 250g rice vermicelli
- 200g fresh bean sprouts, roots removed
- 500g beef fillet, thinly sliced
- 2 white onions, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, cut into julienne
- ½ bunch mint (or Vietnamese mint, if preferred)
- ½ bunch coriander, roughly chopped
- 1 chilli, finely sliced, optional
- Lime or lemon wedges, to serve
Method
Five-year-old Zoe is getting her lips around the pronunciation of this dish. "Ferrrrr ... Fuuuh ... Foooo". She bursts out laughing and jokes: "Beeeeff sooooooup" in a long drawl. Perfecting the correct pronunciation ("fuh") is hardly the point when there's slicing and simmering to do. The onions are painstakingly sliced, some thicker than others, and the mint is rinsed and picked, and the aroma deeply breathed in like a bouquet of flowers. With the various elements assembled and the pho ready to serve, Zoe presents the bowls to the kitchen table. "I have made pho for dinner," she says, with perfect elocution.
Get four large serving bowls ready. Put stock into a large saucepan, add two cups of water and all the spices. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour boiling water over rice vermicelli, sit for five minutes until tender then drain.
Put a serving of noodles in each bowl and top with bean sprouts, beef, onion slices and carrot.
Pour hot stock into the bowls (this cooks the beef and raw vegetables) and sprinkle with mint leaves, coriander and chilli if using.
Serve immediately with lime or lemon wedges.
