Many countries of the East have their own original dishes, which differ in national unique features. Vietnamese cuisine is no exception. It is characterized by the use of rice, fish sauce, soy sauce, rich in herbs and vegetables. And although the most common types of meat in Vietnam are chicken and pork, pho soup with beef is made more often (although a chicken option is also possible). In this article we will try to tell how it can be prepared according to Vietnamese recipes.
Hello from Vietnam
Do you know the most popular dishes of Vietnamese cuisine? In Russia, this cuisine is much less common than, for example, Chinese. Among the original recipes, one can distinguish nem - pancakes in rice paper with fillings. As the Vietnamese say, if you have not tried it, you can say that you do not know this country, even having visited it many times. Rice with vegetables and shrimp, also made in Vietnam, also tastes great. Vietnamese cuisine is also a salad with squid in Vietnamese (there seafood is minimally processed and is eaten almost half-baked). Famous New Year's holiday dish - rice cake Banh Ching, and Vietnamese shrimp pilaf, and spicy rice and cheese balls. And tea in Vietnamese - with fruits and cold - was probably consumed at least once by many, especially in the summer heat.
Pho bo soup
Quite widely known and this wonderful first course - original and versatile, hearty and healthy. Many professional chefs consider it an ideal option, allowing for the first acquaintance with the national cuisine of this country. The broth, cooked with spices, acquires a very unusual taste. By the way, you can prepare the broth in advance (as some Vietnamese do), and then the cooking itself will take no more than 15-20 minutes.
The specifics of preparation and use
Like cabbage soup for a Russian, gazpacho for a Spaniard, lagman for an Uzbek, and pho soup is the main first dish for any Vietnamese. A bowl of soup gives energy and energizes for the whole working day (many Vietnamese prefer to eat this dish in the morning - but this does not matter). They serve it not only in restaurants, but also on the street - pouring portionwise from large pots. Soup is statistically one of the most bought in the world: third place after miso and minestrone. And to cook it yourself, you need to buy ingredients that are available in any supermarket or market, which are inexpensive. Of the features of the preparation: they make the dish mainly on the basis of beef, but some cook fo soup with chicken. Beef, for example, can be either boiled or raw, cut into small, thinnest slices, which are cooked with boiling broth (cooked with anise, ginger, and other spices). Rice noodles are used for the dish. By the way, some seafood can also be used as additives.
Vietnamese soup fo. Recipe
To prepare the beef version of the dish, we need: beef bones - about a kilogram of the product, a kilo of beef tenderloin, a couple of onions, a couple of carrots, rice noodles (thin), soybean seedlings, lime (or lemon), chili pepper, parsley. From seasonings and spices we will use cloves, star anise, lavrushka, anise, pepper, ginger, cinnamon. Some chefs believe that in this combination, spices form the basis to make the right Vietnamese pho soup. The recipe for its preparation is not too complicated. They seem to have found out with the ingredients. Now we will tell you how to cook the dish itself.
Step-by-step master class
- Cook the broth. To do this, wash the bones and fill with water. Put on fire until boiling. Cook for 10 minutes and drain the water. Pour fresh water and again set to cook.
- Large cut peeled onions. Ginger is also cut into large pieces, all together, fry in a pan without oil. We pour it into the pan to the boiling bones.
- We introduce there all the above spices and carrots with parsley roots, chopped coarsely. A bit of salt. Cook on low heat for at least 3 hours (original recipe - 6 hours). Constantly stir and remove the foam. Pop-up fat must also be removed: the broth should be transparent.
- How to cook Vietnamese pho soup? The recipe is quite simple. Soak the noodles in cold water. Noodles need rice, thin. Then boil the noodles for the future soup separately (3-5 minutes) and rinse so as not to stick together.
- The brewed broth is filtered. If there is meat on the bones, we cut it off.
- Finely chop the onion and parsley (you can, if you like, add cilantro there).
- Raw beef tenderloin is slightly frozen in the freezer so that the cut is as convenient as possible. Next, according to the principle of planing, cut into thin translucent small plates. Attention! In the original recipe, this meat will be put in the bowl raw. For those who do not want to take risks: dip the sliced planer into boiling water for a few minutes (separately) and remove.
- Lime (or lemon) is squeezed to the taste of each in a plate. But you can optionally squeeze into a common broth.
How to file
All prepared ingredients are laid out portionwise on bowls. You need to put noodles, soy sprouts, meat from bones, raw meat, lots of greens, chili peppers to everyone's taste. Pour all this pristine beauty with a well-boiling broth (raw meat, if you nevertheless dare to put it, following the original recipe, under the thermal influence of the broth should reach readiness right on the plate, giving the dish a unique aroma. Stir everything before use. Vietnamese they eat with chopsticks, traditionally washed down with liquid from a bowl, but you can eat this soup with a spoon and a fork if someone is not used to the sticks.
With chicken
How to cook Vietnamese pho soup (recipe with chicken)? It is even easier to prepare than with beef. We leave all the ingredients the same, except for beef meat. We replace it with chicken. You can take for a large pan either a small whole chicken, or little things four legs. Cook the broth in the same way (at least three hours). We catch the meat and separate it from the bone. Chopped. We put in a plate: pieces of chicken, rice noodles, boiled already previously, cut greens, soy sprouts (canned can be used instead of fresh ones: they are sold in supermarkets in departments for sushi). Pour it all with boiling broth, and you can use it.
Summary
A small bowl of fo soup in the morning is the very dish that can disperse the stomach and fill the body with nutrition and energy. Well, for those who do not like to eat tightly in advance, you can offer a dish for lunch and dinner, as it is multifunctional and contains the features of the first and second. And be sure to try the real fo with raw meat: the taste is specific, as the classic said!