Phở is one of my all-time favourite of dishes. Light and utterly delicious. Any time I can get near a bowl of brothy soupy spicy noodles, whether Vietnamese style, Thai style hot and sour, Singapore style hot and sour, Chinese style still hot sour but with less chilli heat. It's all good stuff. I can't pass up a bowl but Phở is really the ultimate. It's simplicity is it's beauty.
Consisting of a stock with rice vermicelli and vegetables, the meat added back to the hot stock. Chicken, beef, veg, it's all Phở meaning noodle and can take on many variations depending on region, availability of proteins and herbs. I'm no expert here so any inaccuracies are my assumption of this dish. For technical/ historical perfection I may have it all wrong (disclaimer!).
In Dubai it's hard to source the Vietnamese green herb components which are so prevalant in Vietnam. I've never been to Vietnam but I've been to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia many times and have spent a fair chunk of my life in Hong Kong. My travel to Thailand in particular taught me the full extent of greens and fresh herbs used in South East Asian cooking. Whilst here we get abundant coriander, parsley, dill, mint and many other varieties that I'm still learning about specific to Indian and Middle Eastern cooking the herbs specific to Vietnam i.e. holy basil (actually we get that here in the form of Persian basil, same stuff but very short season between October - December), lemon basil, vietnamese mint are not readily available (low demand, it's expected).
My lovely house cleaner here in Dubai is Vietnamese and her previous job was teaching cooking in Oman before moving to Dubai a few years ago. She has two children and a husband (all beautiful, I've seen photos) back in Vietnam, and she sees them once every two years if she is lucky and sometimes with a good push from me to get her leave approved.
This is the sacrifice made by millions. To live and work away from family in order for their children and parents to receive education (children) and health care (parents). Nguyệt's home is gorgeous. Her husband, being a carpenter of high repute, has made their house into a beautiful home with hand crafted wood. They also have the most incredible garden growing fresh herbs and leaves synonymous to Vietnamese food. She misses it of course but she never speaks of it. She has pride in her family and home as she should. Her home, her children and her husband are, well they just are. Intelligent, proud and artistic, as is Nguyệt
Nguyệt's son and daughter (13 and 10) are learning English in Vietnam which is funded by her earnings here in Dubai. She sees them once every two years. The decision to leave when they were little in order for them to carve out a future is something I cannot even comprehend. Tough. At the end of the day your direction in life is directed by where you were born, khalas (Arabic for done, finished).
So... I was treated today to a cooking lesson of Phở. In this case chicken Phở .
The recipe goes like this:
One chicken, rinsed really well in cold water.
Rice vermicelli noodles
1 UAE local lettuce (long cos type)
4 spring onions
One red onion
Button mushrooms
1 tomato
fresh chillis
Salt
MSG (yes, surprised me too. But how bad can it really be? I mean billions eat the stuff. They are healthy. Maybe it's a west preoccupation and it's our problem so I'm saying yes to MSG and by chance I read an interesting article on the stuff in my recent Australian Gourmet Traveller (in the yes camp BTW).
Pepper
Vietnamese herbs
Lime juice to taste
Extra fresh chopped chilli to taste at the end
Poach the chicken in a pot of water.
Remove from the water, keeping the cooking liquid.
Shread the chicken meat removing the skin
Return the chicken meat, skin and bones to the cooking liquid, bring back to the simmer adding salt.
Cook the noodles.
Heat a pan with oil. Add the sliced red onion and chilli, a good pinch of MSG and salt. When softened add the sliced mushrooms. Sauté together well. At the end add some chopped green spring onions. Take off the heat and add roughly chopped lettuce.
Put hot drained noodles in bowls. Put the chicken mixture on top. Dip the shredded white ends of the spring onions in hot chicken stock and put on top with raw green chopped spring onion. Top with hot chicken broth and fresh Vietnamese herbs. Adjust to taste with chilli, squeezed limes, black pepper and salt. Enjoy!
Consisting of a stock with rice vermicelli and vegetables, the meat added back to the hot stock. Chicken, beef, veg, it's all Phở meaning noodle and can take on many variations depending on region, availability of proteins and herbs. I'm no expert here so any inaccuracies are my assumption of this dish. For technical/ historical perfection I may have it all wrong (disclaimer!).
In Dubai it's hard to source the Vietnamese green herb components which are so prevalant in Vietnam. I've never been to Vietnam but I've been to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia many times and have spent a fair chunk of my life in Hong Kong. My travel to Thailand in particular taught me the full extent of greens and fresh herbs used in South East Asian cooking. Whilst here we get abundant coriander, parsley, dill, mint and many other varieties that I'm still learning about specific to Indian and Middle Eastern cooking the herbs specific to Vietnam i.e. holy basil (actually we get that here in the form of Persian basil, same stuff but very short season between October - December), lemon basil, vietnamese mint are not readily available (low demand, it's expected).
My lovely house cleaner here in Dubai is Vietnamese and her previous job was teaching cooking in Oman before moving to Dubai a few years ago. She has two children and a husband (all beautiful, I've seen photos) back in Vietnam, and she sees them once every two years if she is lucky and sometimes with a good push from me to get her leave approved.
This is the sacrifice made by millions. To live and work away from family in order for their children and parents to receive education (children) and health care (parents). Nguyệt's home is gorgeous. Her husband, being a carpenter of high repute, has made their house into a beautiful home with hand crafted wood. They also have the most incredible garden growing fresh herbs and leaves synonymous to Vietnamese food. She misses it of course but she never speaks of it. She has pride in her family and home as she should. Her home, her children and her husband are, well they just are. Intelligent, proud and artistic, as is Nguyệt
Nguyệt's son and daughter (13 and 10) are learning English in Vietnam which is funded by her earnings here in Dubai. She sees them once every two years. The decision to leave when they were little in order for them to carve out a future is something I cannot even comprehend. Tough. At the end of the day your direction in life is directed by where you were born, khalas (Arabic for done, finished).
So... I was treated today to a cooking lesson of Phở. In this case chicken Phở .
The recipe goes like this:
One chicken, rinsed really well in cold water.
Rice vermicelli noodles
1 UAE local lettuce (long cos type)
4 spring onions
One red onion
Button mushrooms
1 tomato
fresh chillis
Salt
MSG (yes, surprised me too. But how bad can it really be? I mean billions eat the stuff. They are healthy. Maybe it's a west preoccupation and it's our problem so I'm saying yes to MSG and by chance I read an interesting article on the stuff in my recent Australian Gourmet Traveller (in the yes camp BTW).
Pepper
Vietnamese herbs
Lime juice to taste
Extra fresh chopped chilli to taste at the end
Poach the chicken in a pot of water.
Remove from the water, keeping the cooking liquid.
Shread the chicken meat removing the skin
Return the chicken meat, skin and bones to the cooking liquid, bring back to the simmer adding salt.
Cook the noodles.
Heat a pan with oil. Add the sliced red onion and chilli, a good pinch of MSG and salt. When softened add the sliced mushrooms. Sauté together well. At the end add some chopped green spring onions. Take off the heat and add roughly chopped lettuce.
Put hot drained noodles in bowls. Put the chicken mixture on top. Dip the shredded white ends of the spring onions in hot chicken stock and put on top with raw green chopped spring onion. Top with hot chicken broth and fresh Vietnamese herbs. Adjust to taste with chilli, squeezed limes, black pepper and salt. Enjoy!
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| Finished result (minus the herbs). Absolutely and utterly delicious. |
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