The Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup or Phở Bò is probably one of the most well-known noodles to come from Vietnam. It features succulent medium rare beef slices on top of the phở or noodles, together with some wonderfully fresh veggies and herbs that bring a fresh balance to the tasty.  Made with beef (Phở Bò) or chicken (Phở Gà), it is Vietnamese fast food, street food, working men's food and family food.  It is nutritious and filling, and makes an intensely satisfying meal.

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Serves Six

INGREDIENTS:

• 250g/9oz beef sirloin
• 500g/1¼lb dried noodles, soaked in lukewarm water for 20 minutes
• 1 onion, halved and finely slided
• 6-8 spring onions (scallions), cut into long pieces
• 2-3 red chillies, seeded and finely sliced
• 115g/4oz/½cup beansprouts
• 1 large bunch each fresh coriander (cilantro) and mint (basil leaves), stalks removed, leaves chopped
• 2 limes, cut in wedges, and hoisin sauce, nuoc mam (fish sauce) or nuoc cham (dipping sauce) to serve

For the stock

• 1.5kg/3lb 5oz oxtail, trimmed of fat and cut into thick pieces
• 1kg/2¼lb beef shank or brisket
• 2 large onions, peeled and quartered
• 7.5cm/3in fresh root ginger, cut into chunks
• 6 cloves (dinh huong)
  
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 star anise
• 5ml/1 teaspoon (tsp) black peppercorns
• 30ml/2 tablespoon (tbsp) soy sauce
• 45-60ml/3-4 tbsp nuoc mam (fish sauce)
• Salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. To make the stock, put the oxtail into a large, deep pan and cover it with water.  Bring it to the boil and blanch the meat for about 10 minutes.  Drain the meat, rinsing off any scum, and clean out the pan.  Put the blanched oxtail back into the pan with the other stock ingredients, apart from the nuoc mam and salt, and cover with about 3 litres/5¼ pints/12 cups water.  Bring it to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 2-3 hours.
2. Remove the lid and simmer for another hour, until the stock has reduced to about 2 litres/3½ pints/8 cups.  Skim off any fat and then strain the stock into another pan.
3. Cut the beef sirloin across the grain into thin pieces, the size of the heel of your hand.  Bring the stock to the boil once more, stir in the nuoc mam, season to taste, then reduce the heat and leave the stock simmering until ready to use.
4. Meanwhile, bring a pan filled with water to the boil, drain the rice sticks and add to the water (Frozen or chilled noodles can be used as substitues for dried noodles and they take less time to cook than dried noodles).  Cook for about 5 minutes or until tender – you may need to separate them with a pair of chopsticks if they look as though they are sticking together.
5. Drain the noodles and divide them equally among siz wide soup bowls.  Top each serving with the slices of beef, onion, spring onions, chillies and beansprouts.
6. Ladle the hot stock over the top of these ingredients, top with the fresh herbs and serve with the lime wedges to squeeze over.  Pass around the hoisin sauce, nuoc mam or nuoc cham for those who like a little sweetening, fish flavouring or extra fire.

Cook's Tips:

The key to Pho is a tasty, light stock flavoured with ginger, cinnamon, cloves and star anise, so it is worth cooking it slowly and leaving it to stand overnight to allow the flavours to develop fully.  To enjoy this dish, use your chopsticks to lift the noodles through the layers of flavouring and slurp them up.