This quick take on a classic Vietnamese dish is a bowl full of tasty vitamins and minerals. Eaten both for breakfast and lunch by the Vietnamese, this is a very light but supremely tasty bowl of goodness. The fresh leafy, green herbs give this dish a wonderfully vibrant taste, as well as adding a bunch of goodness.
The dry spices are used to infuse the beef stock with flavour, but don’t worry if you don’t use them. Your soup will still be beautiful!
Although this soup is classically made with beef, it is equally nice – and lower in saturated fat – if you use some of your leftover roast chicken instead. Or make it a vegetarian option by using vegetable stock and firm tofu.
Special health benefits of fresh herbs
Coriander, also known as Asian parsley or cilantro, is a frequent garnish in Latin and Asian cuisines. Coriander has been documented as a traditional treatment of diabetes and a study, though still only on animals, has demonstrated the presence of antihyperglycemic, insulin-releasing and insulin-like activity in the herb. The volatile oils found in the leaves of the coriander plant may also have antimicrobial properties.
Phở bò (beef noodle soup)
Ingredients
- 250 ml beef stock
- 1 whole star anise
- ½ cinnamon stick
- 5-6 black peppercorns
- 2 whole cloves
- ½ tsp. coriander seeds
- 30 gr. rice noodles
- 85 gr. fillet of beef
- 1 small spring onion
- 1 red bird’s eye chili
- 30 gr bean sprouts
- 10 sprigs coriander
- 5-10 mint and basil leaves
- 1 tsp. grated ginger
- Lime juice and fish sauce for seasoning
Instructions
- Heat the beef stock with the star anise, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, cloves, and coriander seeds.
- Meanwhile boil a kettle and soak the rice noodles for 5 minutes.
- Thinly slice the beef, spring onion, and bird’s eye chili.
- Drain and rinse the noodles and place them in a large soup bowl along with all of the other ingredients; the hot stock will cook all of the ingredients to just the right point.
- Pour the hot stock, through a sieve, over the ingredients in the soup bowl and serve immediately.
- You can use some fish sauce and lime to season the soup further.