Easy Pho Ga

[Douglas]

1 ounce rice noodles

9 ounces chicken

1 tbsp peanut oil

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp minced ginger

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

28 ounces chicken broth

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp fresh cilantro

2 tbsp green onions

2 tbsp fresh basil

- Pot: soak noodles in hot water

- Skillet: chicken, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes

- add broth & fish sauce to skillet; bring to boil; reduce to medium heat; 8 mins

- drain noodles

- Noodles + soup + cilantro, onion, basil = YUM!

*I made this a few times, each time adjusting the recipe to suite my craving. I would love to try this with homemade broth...

Edited November 1, 2006 by Guest
who the heck cuts their noodles up?

[bouche]

you may want to hit china town for thai basil. it's a must for any pho.

[AdamH]

Curious about why the noodles are cut into pieces?

Another quick option that I like is: one tetrapak of beef stock, a few cubes of demi-glace, bring it to the boil with a few splashes of fish stock then proceed with everything else as per the recipe.

The actual Pho base is usually Oxtail, star anise, burnt ginger (which I tried to replicate with a kitchen torch and a piece of ginger...uhhh doesn't work too well) and a charred onion...or something like that.

At that point I'd rather go to Chinatown for it.

[bouche]

oxtail is pretty cheap to get. I wonder how many tails you need to boil? This sounds like a missioN!

[Douglas]

Curious about why the noodles are cut into pieces?

me too. I've never done it and wonder why I wrote it into the recipe. Crack, I guess. edit...

[AdamH]

So I made Pho from scratch last night and it's pretty simple. You can get the oxtails at Hartman's, Grace, and definitely Kowloon.

Here's the recipe I used:

http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r1590.html?PHPSESSID=101b42dfe97b4e3e7a9bcb23dcaeda76

[Guest Low Roller]

I just bought all the ingredients today. I'll let you know how it went.

[bouche]

So I made Pho from scratch last night and it's pretty simple. You can get the oxtails at Hartman's, Grace, and definitely Kowloon.

Here's the recipe I used:

http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r1590.html?PHPSESSID=101b42dfe97b4e3e7a9bcb23dcaeda76

I have to try this Oxtail thingy on egullet. I keep forgetting that I have an account there and that the site EXISTS! I should always go there first.

We made pho style bowls this week. I used prawns and thinly sliced sirloin. Did you know that you can get a HUGE hunk of very nice sirloin at the market over the bridge on somerset (320?). We also got the prawns and Sharon's tripe (honeycomb) there as well.

We heated our homemade chicken broth, seasoned it with chili oil and salt and then added it to our bowls. You got to make sure the broth is really hot though because all of these raw additions (bean sprouts, thai basil, meat) will cool it quickly. Our first go was perfect and the rare beef was amazing. But the second try we had to put our bowls back on the heat for a minute or so.

[Guest Low Roller]

I had some moderate success with Douglas' recipie. I soaked the noodles too long, and they became all soggy (too soggy), and I put in a little too much fish sauce which made it too "fishy" for Andrea to eat. Besides that it tastes pretty good, so I will be tweaking the recipie and trying again.

In a funny twist, the grocery store didn't have peanut oil, but they had almond oil, sesame seed oil, walnut oil, hazlenut oil, and macadamian oil. What the hell?

[bouche]

you must be sure to only add a little fish sauce at a time and continually taste it. make sure you get andrea to taste it as well, because her threshold may not be the same as yours.

Eventually, you'll get the feel of how much you can add at once. I usually add up to 3 TBSP in a coconut thai red curry chicken dish.

[AdamH]

Oh god that makes me sound sick. I added the full 1/4 cup that's in that recipe and was thinking about adding more.

I loved making that Pho recipe but I think I crossed that familiar threshold of "Gee this is delicious but I've now spent $25 on something that costs $6.96 at a restaurant...and only take 10 minutes to come to the table". So that's where I'm at with Pho.

Here is a great thread from eGullet on Asian Noodle Soups with a ton of pictures and recipes.

[bouche]

I think we've actually been adding more than 3 tbsp to many recent recipes. Especially since making our own broth that is unsalted.

If you're making $25 worth of pho, you should be able to either serve 8 at once, or have yourself meals for a few days. It's certainly not worth it for one sit-down. You're right in that heading over to the New Pho Bo Ga La (or whereever) is way more economical.

[Douglas]

I really want to try the oxtail stock, but I'm becoming a regular at Pho Bo Ga on Bank (between Somerset and Cooper). I start my work day at my Cooper office, work until lunchtime, go across the street for take-out and then gleefully prance up Bank St, Pho Ga in hand (except the day they gave me the shrimp bowl by accident), to my Laurier office where I eat my soap making mm-mmm-numm sounds followed by ahhhh's.

[ollie]

I really want to try the oxtail stock, but I'm becoming a regular at Pho Bo Ga on Bank (between Somerset and Cooper). I start my work day at my Cooper office, work until lunchtime, go across the street for take-out and then gleefully prance up Bank St, Pho Ga in hand (except the day they gave me the shrimp bowl by accident), to my Laurier office where I eat my soap making mm-mmm-numm sounds followed by ahhhh's.

Hey Mike, we gotta try this place for lunch one of these days. Sounds perfect for the cold weather we're having.

[Guest Low Roller]

[...] where I eat my soap making mm-mmm-numm sounds followed by ahhhh's.

That is revolting.