Finished Pho soup

My recipe is adapted from the recipe that I found on Steamy Kitchen.

Broth Ingredients
1) 1 large onion cut in half

2) 4" of fresh ginger root cut in half lengthwise

3) 1 32oz. box of beef broth

4) 5 quarts of water.

5) Penzey's Beef soup base ½ - ¾ tsp. per cup of water (I used about 10-12 tsp total).

6) 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tbsp. coriander seeds, 1 tbsp. fennel seeds, 1 tsp. anise seeds, 1 cardamom pod, and 6 whole cloves - this was all tied into a square of cheesecloth to put into the stock pot.

7) 1 ½ tbsp Kosher salt

8) ¼ cup Fish sauce

9) 2 tbsp of sugar.

Bowl Fixings
1) Dried Rice noodles cooked in boiling water until tender, then rinsed with cold water to stop cooking. I used the medium sized ones (the different brands at United Noodles near Campus had S-small, M-medium, and L-large sized noodles).

2) Eye of Round steak sliced very thin. (Put in freezer and partially freeze to aid in slicing).

3) Basil, chopped

4) Cilantro, chopped

5) Jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced

6) Bean sprouts, washed

7) Onion, sliced very thin

8) Lime wedges

9) Hoisin sauce

10) Sriracha sauce (hot chili sauce)

Directions
- Put olive oil on the cut sides of the ginger and onion, place in oven and broil until golden brown, flipping occasionally, about 10 minutes.

- Meanwhile get the 5 quarts of water heating in a stock pot. Add the Penzey's Beef soup base once the water is heated, but before boiling.

- After the Beef base is added, add the beef broth.

- Once the ginger and onion is done then throw them along with items 6-9 from the broth list above into the stock pot, cover and simmer for 1 ½ hours.

- Stain broth to remove seasoning ingredients. Return some or all of the broth to a boil.

- Place Bowl fixings onto a platter.

- At this time each person can place their desired bowl fixing into their bowl.

- Finish by ladling boiling both over bowl fixings, this will cook the meat and other ingredients.

- Enjoy!

I opted to try making this from broth base and beef broth instead of using beef bones. The process would have definitely been longer if I had made it totally from scratch. I think that it turned out better then I thought it would. The Penzey's Beef base is very beefy, so the beef flavor was a bit strong. I would use less next time. The broth was also darker then I remember it being from the few times that I have gotten it from a Vietnamese restaurant near work. The spices though I thought were really close to how I remembered them. One of these days I will make it entirely from scratch to see how the bones make a difference.