Vietnamese Food for Beginners - Vegetarian Pho

If you've eaten any Vietnamese food, this is probably it. Pho is a delicious, fragrant noodle soup filled with fresh vegetables and garnished however you like, which makes it a great meal if everyone in your family has differing palates. It's traditionally made with meat and is often eaten for breakfast, but we skip the meat and have it at dinner instead. If you'd rather, substitute chicken or beef for the tofu. After cubing the tofu we sometimes fry it in a skillet with 2-3 tablespoons coconut oil. After cutting it, be sure to pat it dry with a dishtowel or paper towels. Put it in the skillet on medium heat and turn it once one side has browned. Keep turning it until they are fried to your liking. Alternatively, you can toss the plain, uncooked tofu into the broth which will save you some time. We use pad thai brown rice noodles for this recipe, which are wide and flat, similar to linguine.
 
Broth:
1 small onion, unpeeled and quartered
2 shallots, unpeeled, halved
8 cloves garlic, halved
1-2 inch piece ginger root, coarsely sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
10 cloves
10 cups water or clear vegetable stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce or Bragg’s liquid aminos
 
Other ingredients:
1 pound pad thai brown rice noodles
4 cups baby spinach, green cabbage, bok choy or other dark greens, chopped
2 14 oz. containers extra-firm tofu, cubed, and fried in coconut oil if desired
6 scallions, thinly sliced, both green and white parts
1 ½ cups mung bean sprouts
1 jalepeno pepper, sliced
1 cup chopped and toasted cashews or peanuts
1 lime, cut into wedges
cilantro, to taste
basil or mint, to taste
sriracha sauce or crushed red pepper
hoisin or plum sauce

• To make the broth, heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, shallots, garlic, ginger, cinnamon sticks, fennel, and cloves. Dry roast, stirring occasionally until the veggies begin to char. Add the stock or water and soy sauce and bring to a boil on high heat. Turn heat down to low, cover and simmer at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Strain into a clean pot and discard the solids (or just be careful not to serve the solids). Taste and add salt if needed (if you use broth, you probably won't need any).
• While the broth is simmering, prepare the rice noodles. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and add the noodles. Follow directions for cooking on noodle bag or box or until they are the firmness you like. Drain when done into a colander and then rinse with cold water.
• Put cashews or peanuts in a small skillet and dry roast them, stirring or tossing frequently, until they begin to brown and become fragrant. When they are to your liking, put them in a small bowl.
• When you are ready to assemble the soup, add tofu to the broth to heat through. Divide rice noodles between serving bowls.  Put greens, bean sprouts, and tofu in each bowl.  Serve other ingredients on a separate platter so everyone can garnish their pho as they wish.

 
Serves 6
Adapted from the Vegetarian Pho recipe at http://www.food.com/recipe/vegetarian-pho-238765.