PHO BO (VIETNAMESE BEEF SOUP NOODLE)

Dang!!.....this noodle soup is really delicious. The first pho I ate was pho from Pho Hoa in Indonesia. Since that day, I knew I'm fallen in love with pho :). I remember, when I was preparing my thesis for my degree, I went to BEJ to collect some data and info, and it took me days to complete all the info that I needed. So, as the rule from the BEJ library that the library is closed at lunch time, my friend and I went to Pho Hoa to have our lunch there. Everytime we went to BEJ, we had pho as our lunch :).

Then, after I graduated and I'm no longer went back to BEJ, slowly, pho was forgotten by me. Until last few months when my hubby and I had our lunch at Pho&Thai, I ordered pho, and it reminds me to those old days when I was in Indo :).
Pho always has good taste. It because the soup rich of flavors.

By eating pho at the restaurant that day made me want to make my own pho, but, unfortunately, the desire was come and go :(. Until, there was a task to make pho so....here I am enjoying my rich of flavors homemade pho....:).

Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Soup Noodle)
Source : Cooking with Mommies

Ingredients:
For Soup:
2 medium yellow onions
3 inch ginger
3 litre water
4 lbs knuckle bones (Belzy -- any beef bones are ok, such as neck bone)
4 star anise
5 whole cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
5 tbsps of fish sauce
Salt and sugar, to taste

For Pho
1.5 pounds of beef sukiyaki
15 pieces of beef meatballs
1 package of rice noodle (Belzy -- the one that usually used : banh pho), soak it in hot water and let it sit in the water until the rice noodle is soft)

For Garnish:
Bean sprout
Cilantro
Thai Basil
Lime wedges
Chilli (if desire)


Directions:
SOUP:
Grill onion and ginger with open flame (I used electric stove). Grill it for 15 minutes or until the onions are soft and sweetly fragrant.
Remove it from the grill, and under warm water, remove charred onion skin, trim and discard blackened parts. For the ginger, if it is not puckered or blistered, peel the skin off with sharp knive. Set aside.

Boil bones for 2-3 minutes to allow impurities to be released. Drain the bones from the water (throw away the water). Rinse bones with warm water. In a pressure cooker, place bones and 1500 ml water (or until the bones are almost covered with water. Cook it for about 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, add in onion, ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick and cloves. Continue cook the bones for another 30 minutes.
Remove the pressure cooker from the heat. Strain the broth through fine strainer (throw away the bones and herbs).

In a stockpot, pour in the broth, return it to the stove, add in the rest of water, bring it boil, season with fish sauce, salt and sugar, to taste. Boil in sukiyaki and beef meatballs until cooked through.

PHO BO:
In a bowl, put noodle, sukiyaki and beef meatballs. Then, pour in the pho soup. Serve it with bean sprout, cilantro, thai basil, thai chilli and lime wedges.