Easy Version Vietnamese Beef Rice Noodle (Pho) with Premade Stock

I do like to have the Vietnamese beef noodles soup (Pho) sometimes. However my theory is.. if I am going to have the proper ones I will go to a Vietnamese restaurant and pay for a proper one. Just to satisfy the crave? I will just make an easy one at home and that’s good to go for tonight’s dinner.

Note: THIS IS NOT AN AUTHENTIC METHOD FOR PHO, it’s just a quick fix for dinner.

I always have some Pho soup base stock cubes ready at home. So far this is the brand that I liked the most. It’s just a dollar and it comes with 4 cubes

Apart from this you will need:

Fish sauce 

Onion: I like to use white onion or red onion. White onion gives the sweetness, and red onion gives more flavors. Really up to you. If you have the regular yellow ones in your pantry, go for it.

Sliced beef: I like to use the thinly sliced beef for hot pot you can get from Asian grocery store. They usually comes in a 300g pack for around $5, enough for 2 adults and a kid.

Noodles: Rice noodles, rice vermicelli, white noodles.. anything. I myself like thick vermicelli, my husband likes thick white noodles, it’s all your choice.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 2 adults 1 kid

400g Fresh Rice Noodles
300g Thinly Sliced Beef
2-3 Tbsp Fish Sauce
2 Pho Beef Soup Stock Cubes
Half Onion – thinly sliced
1 stalk Coriander – chopped
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Cooking wine
A handful of Bean sprout (optional)
some chopped Spring onions

METHOD:

1. Thaw the beef. Marinate with 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp cooking wine, 1 Tbsp of water and maybe a few drops of sesame oil. Set aside.
2. Bring 1.5 L of water to boil. Add the stock cubes, fish sauce and cook the stock until the cubes are fully dissolved. Add part of the sliced onion and part of the chopped coriander.
3. Put the rice noodles in a strainer and dip into the stock for less than 1 minute and loosen it with chopsticks. Bring the noodles out and place in serving noodles bowl.
4. Cook the beef in the stock for 2-3 mins, use a strainer to bring the beef out and place on top of the noodles.
5. If you are adding bean sprout, you can either cook them a little bit in the stock, or if you prefer crunchiness add them in the final step.
6. Sprinkle the rest of the onion, spring onion and coriander. Top up with the soup.
7. Serve immediately.

P.S. You can serve with lemon, Hoi Sin Sauce or Chilli if you like. Just like how you have it in a restaurant you know 🙂