Is it ‘PH-oh’? Or ‘Fur’? Or like the Kung Fu Panda, Po? Either way, it’s amazing. It’s fresh and delicious and the perfect dinner dish for….anytime really.

Having recently discovered it at the local ‘Roll’d’ chain food restaurant I fell head over heels for this Vietnamese dish. Rice noodles in broth just do it for me. Add in some raw beef that you cook with the steaming hot stock and I’m done for. It’s great to knock up a quick version of this on those nights you’ve forgotten to get anything out of the freezer. I know it can be made with any meat really, but there’s something about the slow poach of thing beef slices that sings to my inner foodie.

Now, there’s a quick way and a long way to make your Beef Pho. The long way involves making your own stock, the quick doesn’t. A few points to make if you’re not making your own stock from scratch:

• If using store-bought stock look for an organic Beef Stock, not a ‘Beef Flavoured’ stock.
• Homemade Beef Stock paste is another great alternative – Thermomix owners will find the recipe in the front of your Basic Cookbook.
• You can also use store bought Beef Bone Broth for a more subtle flavour, but heating it might eliminate all the good brothy bits that make it more $$$.

If you’re wanting to make it all from scratch a great recipe I found is Andrea Nguyen’s from Viet World Kitchen. It’s a full recipe from scratch, takes a few hours and would be wonderfully amazing.

But if, like most of us, you’re short on time and looking for a fast Beef Pho, here’s how I make it:

Beef Pho {with Thermomix method}

Ingredients:

• Thumb-sized knob of ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1L of good quality Beef Stock
• 4 star anise
• 2 cinnamon quills
• 70g fish sauce
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 packet of flat rice noodles
• Sesame oil
• 200g frozen beef fillet (the best you can afford)
• coriander, bean sprouts, thinly sliced chilli to serve

Method:

1. Add your peeled ginger and garlic to the Thermomix mixing bowl and chop for 5 Seconds/Sp 5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the beef stock, star anise, cinnamon, fish sauce and sugar to the bowl and simmer for 15 Min/100C/Reverse/Soft Spoon.
2. Meanwhile, add your rice noodles to a Thermoserver and cover with boiling water. Allow to heat for only a few minutes. Remove and rinse under cold running water to stop cooking. Add a few drops of sesame oil to stop them from sticking together and divide amongst the serving bowls.
3. Using a mandolin or good knife skills, thinly slice your beef against the grain, not with the grain or it may end up chewy. Divide the raw slices amongst the serving bowls on top of the noodles.
4. As soon as the time is up for the stock strain while piping hot into the bowls through a sieve, discarding the remaining spices. The heat from the stock will cook the beef.
5. Top with bean sprouts, coriander, and chili slices.