Vegan Pho (Traditional Vietnamese soup)

Anastasia

5 years ago

I tried Pho for the first time when I cooked it as a task for my Forks Over Knives Cooking Course. I’ve never made such a rich stock before. But I was not completely satisfied with my result. I spent a lot of time checking different recipes and trying to achieve more authentic taste. That is hard because I’ve never tried the original and I probably never will.

In the end by adding lots of spices and few weird ingredients I’ve reached that powerful, sweet and so satisfying taste! It’s so delicious! You should definitely try it.

And the best thing is that you can use this stock as a base and each time use different toppings.

By the way here’s my certificate (I always wanted to use it somewhere):

To make the stock first you have to char onions and ginger. Just place a wire cooling rack over the burner, put onions and ginger on top and cook for about 5 minutes on each side.

Then put all the ingredients except nutritional yeast and soy sauce in a large pot and cover with 2 liters of cold water. Bring to boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer uncovered for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

After 1 hour of simmering mix nutritional yeast with hot water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Pour the liquid into the stock leaving the sediments in a glass (we want to have a clear stock). Add soy sauce. Taste for seasoning.

When done let it cool a bit and then strain. There should be about 1 liter of liquid.

To assemble the soup cook noodles and blanch the vegetables and mushrooms. Put noodles in a bowl, top with vegetables, mushrooms and bean sprouts. Pour the hot stock. Serve with fresh herbs, chili slices and lime wedges on a side.

Vegan Pho

Rich, spicy and nourishing Vietnamese soup vegan way.

Author: Anastasia
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Yield: 4
Category: Soup
Cuisine: Vietnamese

Ingredients

For the stock:

2 large onions, cut in quarters
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
1 medium sweet apple, cored, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 inch piece of ginger, halved
1 small chili pepper, halved
Small bunch of fresh herbs (cilantro, mint, Thai basil)
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tsp whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4 star anise
2 slices of orange, peeled
2 liters cold water
3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 cup hot water
1 tbsp soy sauce

For the soup:

1 cup mushrooms (brown Shimeji, Enoki or Shiitake)
1 cup green vegetables (bok choy, broccoli, snow peas)
handful of soy sprouts
200g dry noodles of your choice
fresh herbs, chili slices and lime wedges for garnishing

Instructions

To make the stock first you have to char onions and ginger. Just place a wire cooling rack over the burner, put onions and ginger on top and cook for about 5 minutes on each side.
Put all the ingredients except nutritional yeast and soy sauce in a large pot and cover with 2 liters of cold water. Bring to boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer uncovered for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
After 1 hour of simmering mix nutritional yeast with hot water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Pour the liquid into the stock leaving the sediments in a glass (we want to have a clear stock). Add soy sauce. Taste for seasoning.
When done let it cool a bit and then strain. There should be about 1 liter of liquid.
To assemble the soup cook noodles and blanch the vegetables and mushrooms. Put noodles in a bowl, top with vegetables, mushrooms and bean sprouts. Pour the hot stock. Serve with fresh herbs, chili slices and lime wedges on a side.