Take-Out, Just Phở Me

RCP has been working 'til 10:00 pm on average almost every night over the past two weeks so my nightly dinners have run the gamut from salads to cheese and crackers to a two-ingredient stir fry. I don't really like to cook for just myself, so I tend to forage and graze, occasionally throwing some chicken into a pan. However, a new restaurant finally opened across the street from the U.N. Village called "Good Morning Vietnam". It's a Vietnamese noodle soup shop and I tried their take-out the other night. Phở, as the soup is called, is a really delicious, extremely filling, healthy meal. Phở is usually served with beef (phở bò) or chicken (phở gà). I ordered the phở bò and I'm no expert on phở, but the broth was incredible, with hints of cinnamon and cloves, it's a perfect dish to eat on a cold winter night. Also, I can't forget to mention the speed at which my take-out was ready: Under 5 minutes. This is by far a new record and by far faster than getting even a slice of pizza back in New York.

A Little Info about Phở

Phở is served in a bowl with a specific cut of white rice noodles (called bánh phở') in clear beef broth, with slim cuts of boiled beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank or brisket). Variations can feature tendon, tripe and meatballs in southern Vietnam. The broth for beef phở is generally made by simmering beef bones, oxtails, flank steak, charred onion, charred ginger and spices. Seasonings can include Saigon cinnamon or other kinds of cinnamon, star anise, roasted ginger, roasted onion, black cardamom, coriander seed, fennel seed, and clove. For chicken phở, only the meat and bones of the chicken are used in place of beef and beef bone and the remaining spices remain the same except for the charred ginger, which is omitted, since its function in beef phở is to get rid of the "cow's smell." Typical garnishes for phở include onions, chili peppers, cilantro, lime, bean sprouts and Thai basil. Other accompaniments include dipping sauces such as fish sauce, hoisin and chili sauces, hot and spicy pastes and a squeeze of lime or lemon juice.

 Gooooood Mooooooorning Vietnam!

Bags of ingredients my phở :)

Assembling my phở required a little problem solving because dumping a bag of

broth into a bowl proved to be a little impossible.

Add the onion....

...top it with some bean sprouts....

...and there you have it, a nice bowl of phở.....phở dinner :)