Since you are straining these vegetables at the end and will be using different vegetables for your Pho bowls, you don’t have to worry about chopping perfectly or mincing them into small pieces.
Broth Ingredients
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup of shitake mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup of parsley, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 inch piece of fresh ginger root – peeled and chopped
- 2 inch of fresh turmeric root – no need to peel or chop
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (less if you are sensitive to spice)
- 12 cups of water
- ½ to 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 1/3 cup of full fat coconut milk
Broth Instructions:
- Place all the vegetables into a large pot and fill with 12 cups of water.
- Simmer on low/medium heat for 2 hours.
- Let the contents of the broth cool for 15 to 20 minutes to make straining easier.
- Take a strainer and pour the contents of the broth into another pot; pressing on the vegetables to strain the juice out of them. Throw out the strained vegetables and continue straining until all vegetables have been discarded.
- Add salt, coconut aminos, tamari and coconut milk to the strained broth and taste. Adjust with more salt or tamari as needed.
- This broth is the base for my pho bowl recipe below. You can make the broth ahead of time and store in the refrigerator for a few days and then reheat for making the pho bowls.
Pho Bowls
Once you have created the broth, the rest of the meal is relatively easy and quick to assemble. Sometimes the vegetables I use for the pho depends on what I have in the refrigerator, but generally, I try to stick with ones that are more traditional to Asian cooking. As far as the noodles go, you have many options depending on whether you want something gluten-free or even grain free. I personally make my pho bowls with mung bean noodles because I try to avoid grains, but vermicelli rice noodles are a good option as well. You can’t go wrong with any of the noodles in the Asian food isle.
Ingredients:
- Pho Broth (recipe above)
- Noodles of your choice
- A mixture of chopped/sliced vegetables for your bowl…
- Shitake Mushrooms
- Snap Peas
- Baby Bok Choy
- Green cabbage
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Optional: cubes of tofu
Optional toppings:
- Green onions
- Cilantro
Instructions:
- If you plan on using all the pho broth, you can put your vegetables into the broth to cook them. Alternatively, you could steam them in a little vegetable stock and sprinkle with a tablespoon of coconut aminos (my method of choice).
- To assemble your bowls, start with the noodles and top with your mixture of vegetables. Ladle with hot pho broth and top with green onions and cilantro.
- I like to serve with siracha and chili crisp oil on the side in case anyone likes a little extra heat.
