I love the lightness and fragrance of Vietnamese food, Vietnamese cuisine uses very little oil and it it is consider one of the healthiest in the world.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, pho (pronounced ‘fuh’) is a classic Vietnamese soup.

A typical pho includes rice noodles in broth, a combination of raw and sautéed vegetables, fresh herbs, and rare sliced steak.

Since I want this to be a semi-vegetarian recipe, I have left out the steak but incorporated a few tablespoons of fish sauce.

You can vary the vegetables you add to this soup and if you want some extra protein you can always add some tofu cubes.

It is relatively easy to make, very quick to assemble once you have made the stock (you can use low sodium vegetable stock cubes if you don’t feel like making your own stock) and it is truly refreshing and warming at the same time.
 

Ingredients

• 1.5 litres of vegetable stock.

• 6 green onions, thinly sliced

• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated

• Salt to taste

• 2 star aniseed , 1 cinnamon stick , 2 cloves.

• 1 stalk lemongrass.

• 2 red chillies, sliced, pith removed, keep seeds according to how hot you want the soup to be.

• 2 medium tomatoes cut in wedges.

• A handful of mushrooms, sliced, tough stems removed

• A selection of your favourite vegetables, like pak choi, French beans, baby corn, asparagus, spring broccoli…

• 1 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce

• 1 ½ tablespoons of tamari sauce

• 100 g rice noodles per person, cooked according to package instructions

• 1 medium bag of very fresh bean sprouts

• Fresh coriander and basil leaves.

• 1 lime cut in two


Method 

1. In a large pot, combine the vegetable broth, green onion, grated ginger, lemon grass, half a chilli, the spices, fish sauce, and tamari. Bring to a full boil, then reduce the heat, add the tomatoes and mushrooms and simmer for 15 minutes. Make sure you remove the cloves and cinnamon stick but the star aniseed will look lovely in the bowl.

2. Divide the cooked rice noodles between four to six large bowls, then fill each bowl with the broth. Add bean sprouts, the vegetables, sliced chillies, and give it a couple of minutes before garnishing with the lime wedges, fresh basil leaves and coriander.

3. Serve immediately with little bowls of hoisin sauce and chilli sauce.

Florencia Clifford is a zen cook and the author of Feeding Orchids To The Slugs: Tales Of The Zen Kitchen. For more, visit feedingorchidstotheslugs.wordpress.com