Recipe

“Pho” Style Soup with Super Thinly Sliced Steak + All Asian Soup Base

  • Soup is everything.

    Its a meal, it’s a snack, it heals you when you don’t feel good, it can be a fridge cleaner, it can be meaty and hearty, it can be light and refreshing, it can be eaten with a soup for a dignified experience, it can be slurpped up with a huge chopstick full of noodles(my personal fav) and it is, most importantly, always delicious.

    I’ve said this before and I can not stress it enough, that a good soup is something that every single person can make. They are not hard and in my opinion the main contributor from taking a soup from good to great is merely the addition of time. For the most part, you can basically dump anything in a pot, add some seasoning, cover with water and if you let it simmer for long enough it will taste delicious.

    BUT. If you want your soups to go from great to INSANE, it does require a little bit of technical work so that you can layer flavors and build a soup that is so complex in it’s taste but simple in it’s appearance.

    To me, that is what this soup is all about. It is a combination of a chicken soup stock, layered with a mushroom broth and infused with Asian aromatics that gives this soup it’s absolutely addicting flavor.

    Since I make a version of Asian soups basically every week, I’m going to do you all a favor and give you my base recipe. From there you can either follow this exact recipe (which I highly recommend because it was the freakin bomb) or you can use whatever you have in your fridge to make your own incredible Asian soup bowl.

    If you don’t have an ingredient I use, just leave it out or swap it for something similar. The only component that I would say you absolutely should include is the mushroom broth. It is very simple to make as it requires only dried mushrooms and water and you can freeze it in one cup containers so that you to can easily make these soups on a weekly basis from your leftover shabbos chicken soup.

    I’m going to break this recipe up into 2 parts for those of you who just want the base. Please, please, please use this recipe as a jumping off point to create your own amazing Asian soups!!!!!

    Happy slurping everyone!

     

     

  • For the Mushroom Broth

    1. 1 cup dried mushrooms (I use porcini but nay kind will do)
    2. 4 cups boiling water

    For the Soup

    1. 2 cloves garlic, halved
    2. 1 inche ginger, peeled and halved
    3. 4, 2 inch pieces of the white bottoms of scallions
    4. 1 tsp sesame oil
    5. 1-2 tbsp soy sauce (depending on how intense you like the flavor)
    6. 12-14 cups clear chicken soup (if there are pieces in your soup, strain it first) or beef stock
    7. Optional Flavorings: (all of these measurements are based on how they work with my chicken soup. Add the smaller amount, taste it and then add more if you need..)
    8. 2-3 Tbsp ghojugang
    9. 2-3 Tbsp tamarind paste
    10. 2-3 Tbsp white miso paste
    11. juice of 1 lime
    12. 1 piece fresh lemongrass, bruised
    13. 1 tbsp ume plum vinegar
    14. 1 marrow bone

    For the Mushroom Broth

    1. Place mushrooms and boiling water in a bowl.
    2. Cover tightly with Saran Wrap and let steep for 30 minutes.
    3. Uncover and strain mixture, reserving the liquid and discarding the mushrooms.
    4. You should have around 3 cups of broth.
    5. Use 1&1/2 cups now and pour the rest into a small Tupperware.
    6. Cool and freeze for later use.

    For the Soup

    1. Heat a medium sized pot over medium flame.
    2. Add ginger, garlic and scallion. (If using lemongrass add now as well)
    3. Stir for 1 minute until fragrant.
    4. Add sesame oil, soy sauce and any other flavorings you are using.
    5. (For example: tamarind paste, ghojugang and lime or miso, Sriracha and vinegar, or a whole marrow bone…)
    6. Add mushroom broth and chicken or beef stock.
    7. Bring mixture up to a boil and then cover and simmer for at least 30 minutes or as long as you need…
    8. At this point you can add any protein, vegetables and noodles you like to make this into a complete soup.
    9. Just make sure to have fun with it!
    10. Enjoy!!!

    Notes

    1. *I like to blanch my vegetables or noodles in the soup one at a time and then remove them to individual bowls. This creates a “build your own soup bowl” bar and I find that my family eats much better. Everyone can add in whatever they like into their own bowls and no one asks me to start picking out tiny pieces of scallions for them!!!

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