I remember the first ever phở I tried. It was in a local vegan establishment on the island of Phú Quốc in Vietnam. I hadn’t yet acclimatised to the heat, but I still managed to devour a full bowl of this noodle soup.
Ever since then, I have been addicted. I ate it pretty much every other day. It was the perfect hangover cure, as well as a comforting weekend breakfast dish. You could eat it in a fancy restaurant or on the side of the road from a local street vendor. No matter where, it was delicious.
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Servings: people
Ingredients:
Spices
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cloves
- 2 black cardamom pods
Aromatics
- 2 white onions peeled and halved
- 20 g ginger cut into chunks
- 1 carrot peeled and cut into chunks
Soup
- 1 apple
- 1 tbsp white miso
- 1 tbsp vegan fish sauce
- 30 g dried mushrooms soaked in 500ml water
- 1 vegan beef stock cube in 2.5l water
Topping
- Mushrooms I use lion's mane
- Brown onion finely sliced
- Spring onions a bunch
- Mung beans a large handful
- Herbs Thai basil and coriander
- 2 Limes
Sauces
- Sriracha optional
- Hoisin sauce optional
Instructions:
- Rinse your dried mushrooms to get rid of any dirt and dunk them into a bowl with 500ml water and set aside until later.
- Dry fry your spices in saute pan until they have browned and released a beautiful spice fragrance, remove them and allow to cool down on the side before placing inside a muslin cloth or spice ball.
- Place the aromatic ingredients (onion, ginger, and carrot) into the same saute pan and char them until they are dark, but not burnt. This may cause the pan to smoke a tad, so just make sure to keep your windows open!
- Place the cooked aromatics, spices (wrapped inside a muslin cloth or put into a spice ball), rehydrated mushrooms (and their soaking liquid), and the rest of the soup ingredients into a large stock pot.
- Bring to a boil and then put down to a simmer and cook the broth for 1 hour.
- If you want to impart even more flavour in to the broth then you can cook it for much longer, just remove the spices so they don't overpower it.
- Meanwhile, cook your noodles according to packet instructions and rinse with cold water and leave to drain.
- Prep any of your other fresh toppings, like your herbs, spring onions, sliced brown onions, and beansprouts.
- Once your broth is cooked, pass it through a seive or colander over the top of a large bowl. If your broth is a little bitty, then you can pass it through a muslin cloth which is placed over the top of a colander.
- Pour the broth back into the stock pot and keep it warm on the stove whilst you prep the hot toppings.
- Slice and cook your mushrooms in a frying pan and prepare your tofu accoridng to how you want it (either fried or fresh).
- Place your cooked noodles into individual serving bowls and pour the hot broth over the top of each before adding the cooked mushrooms and tofu.
- Serve it with a bowl of sriracha and/or hoisin sauce on the side for people to stir into their broth, as well as a plate with the fresh herbs, onion, beansprouts and lime slices on the side for people to add to their pho.
- Slurp and enjoy!
Other vegan Vietnamese recipes
Having spent a lot of time in Vietnam, I get a lot of enjoyment out of recreating the dishes that I love eating there. Check out my other creations here:
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