I was first introduced to Vietnamese Pho, a popular Vietnamese dish, six years ago, when I met a Vietnamese woman, Thuy, at the local Asian grocery store. She had an amazing story of how she came to the United States, having fled the war-torn city of Saigon, Vietnam, as a young girl.
She went on to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, got married, and dedicated her life to raising her three beautiful girls. I saw her a few times after that first chance meeting, but then didn’t run into her for almost two years.
Three and a half years ago, I heard through a friend that Thuy had Stage IV stomach cancer. I called her immediately, and over the course of that year, spent a lot of time with her, talking, eating, cooking for her, and just being by her side. I learned that she loved to eat and to cook. How ironic I thought, to love to eat and cook, but not be able to do either, with stomach cancer.
Thuy taught me about Vietnamese food, sharing Vietnamese spring rolls her friends from California sent her (she had lived in California before moving to the East Coast), and introducing me to a cuisine I knew nothing about. We took a couple of trips to a Vietnamese market where she insisted we had to arrive no later than 2PM on Fridays to get Bahn Mi, the Vietnamese sandwiches that were brought in fresh, weekly from Chinatown. After eating my first Bahn Mi, I was hooked, and understood why we had to get to the market early.
I became curious about Vietnamese cooking, and bought my first Vietnamese cookbook, anxious to learn more about this new cuisine. We flipped through the cookbook together,Thuy pointing out her favorites as a young child in Vietnam. I attempted to make some of her favorite comfort foods…chicken rice porridge, boiled peanuts (she immigrated to North Carolina), and pho.
Here’s a Vietnamese Vegetarian Pho recipe I came up with in memory of my friend Thuy. I apologize for the lengthy, detailed recipe, but Thuy was very particular about her food, so I wanted to make sure my recipe would meet her high standards. Thuy, I want you to know that I have spent the most time on this post so far, and I know you wouldn’t want it any other way!
To make Vegetarian Pho broth:
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| Rehydrated Shitake Mushrooms |
Rehydrate dried shitake mushrooms by placing them in a bowl of hot water for about 30 minutes, until softened. Cut stems off.
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| Charred Onion and Ginger |
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| Tender Part of Lemongrass Bulb, Crushed |
To prepare lemongrass, cut off stalky top part, leaving bottom 1/3. Trim about 1/2″ off bottom, and remove outer leaves until tender bulb is exposed. Crush bulb with flat side of a large knife.
Lightly toast star anise and cloves in a small skillet. Combine broth, water (note: if using homemade vegetable broth, use 2 cups more broth instead of water; boxed vegetable broth tends to be too strong), rehydrated shitake mushrooms, onion, ginger, lemongrass, star anise, cloves, cinnamon stick, palm sugar and soy sauce in a saucepan. Bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer 30 minutes. Strain broth, reserving shitake mushrooms. Slice shitake mushrooms and save for topping.
To prepare Pho toppings:
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| Baby Bok Choy |
Add fresh shitake mushrooms and cook 3 minutes until just tender. Remove.
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| Enoki Mushrooms, With Root Removed |
Cut 1″ off root end of enoki mushrooms. Separate into strands. Cook enoki mushrooms in broth for 1-2 minutes until just tender. Remove.
To make rice noodles:
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| Rice Noodles (Banh Pho) – Buy “Size S” |
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| Cooked Rice Noodles |
Garnish noodle bowls with bean sprouts, fresh mint, basil, cilantro, chilies and lime wedges. Serves 4-6.
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| Pho Spices and Garnishes |
Vietnamese Vegetarian Pho Recipe
Ingredients
Pho Broth
- 2 quarts vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 6 dried shitake mushrooms soaked in hot water for ½ hour, stems removed
- 1 unpeeled onion halved
- One 3-inch piece fresh ginger unpeeled, cut into 2 pieces and smashed
- 2 stalks lemongrass bottom 1/3 only, outer leaves removed, and smashed
- 3 whole star anise
- 4 whole cloves
- One 3-inch cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
Pho Toppings
- 1 ½ cups baby bok choy trimmed
- 8 ounces shitake mushrooms sliced
- 1 package enoki mushrooms
- 1 pack thin dried rice noodles
Pho Garnishes
- 2 cups mung bean sprouts
- 1 bunch fresh mint
- 1 bunch fresh Thai basil
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro
- 2-3 Thai chilies thinly sliced
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 2 limes sliced into wedges
Instructions
Make Vegetarian Pho broth
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Rehydrate dried shitake mushrooms by placing them in a bowl of hot water for about 30 minutes, until softened. Cut stems off.
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Place onion and ginger on baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes or until slightly softened and onion skin is charred. Remove onion skin and ginger skin.
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To prepare lemongrass, cut off <g class="gr_ gr_1097 gr-alert gr_spell gr_disable_anim_appear ContextualSpelling" id="1097" data-gr-id="1097">stalky</g> top part, leaving bottom 1/3. Trim about 1/2" off <g class="gr_ gr_1101 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="1101" data-gr-id="1101">bottom</g>, and remove outer leaves until <g class="gr_ gr_1102 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="1102" data-gr-id="1102">tender</g> bulb is exposed. Crush bulb with <g class="gr_ gr_1103 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="1103" data-gr-id="1103">flat</g> side of a large knife.
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Lightly toast star anise and cloves in a small skillet.
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Combine broth, water (note: if using homemade vegetable broth, use 2 cups more broth instead of water; boxed vegetable broth tends to be too strong), rehydrated shitake mushrooms, onion, ginger, lemongrass, star anise, cloves, cinnamon stick, palm sugar and soy sauce in a saucepan. Bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer 30 minutes. Strain broth, reserving shitake mushrooms. Slice shitake mushrooms and save for topping.
Prepare Pho toppings:
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Bring broth to a boil and add baby bok choy. Cook 3-4 minutes until just tender, but still with a bit of crunch; remove to a bowl.
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Add fresh shitake mushrooms and cook 3 minutes until just tender. Remove.
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Cut 1" off <g class="gr_ gr_1558 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="1558" data-gr-id="1558">root</g> end of enoki mushrooms. Separate into strands. Cook enoki mushrooms in broth for 1-2 minutes until just tender. Remove.
Make rice noodles:
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Bring a pot of water to boiling. Add rice noodles and stir. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until soft but still chewy; drain and rinse well with cold water.
To serve
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Place a handful of noodles in each bowl. Top with mushrooms (shitakes reserved from broth, fresh shitakes, and enoki mushrooms) and baby bok choy. Pour some broth into bowl over noodles.
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Garnish noodle bowls with bean sprouts, fresh mint, basil, cilantro, chilies and lime wedges. Serves 4-6.
My Favorite Vietnamese Cookbooks:
Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors by Andrea Nguyen
Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Pham Mai
Authentic Vietnamese Cooking: Food from a Family Table by Corinne Trang
More Information on Stomach Cancer:
MedicineNet.com: Stomach Cancer Prevention
National Cancer Institute: Stomach Cancer Prevention
Anticancer Ingredients: Mushrooms, Onion, Leafy Green Vegetables, Scallions
I must say that since I signed up for your blog, Jeanette’s Healthy Living, I have been pleasantly surprised by the yummy daily recipes that you have come up with! In fact, I look forward to them and have sent your blog around the office to other foodies here at work.
Who would have known that you would become such an accomplished cook! I especially like your healthy substitutes for mayo and sour cream!
Keep up the slicin’ and dicin’!
I would love to try it! Love the veggies in it!
Thanks Ben, hope you like the recipes, and thank you for passing them along to your friends.
Thanks Katerina, please do try it. If you use boxed broth, just check the consistency. I used Pacific and it was pretty concentrated, so that's why I add water in the recipe. The broth you end up with should be fairly light and fragrant.
Hi Jeannette – I'm putting together a cookbook to benefit a non-profit I started earlier this year, Bites of Hope, that provides nutrition information to cancer patients and their families. I'd love to include this recipe in the book, if you're open to the idea. Please email me at bitesofhope@gmail.com if you'd like additional details.
Hi Christa, what a wonderful organization you started. I would be so honored if you included this recipe in your book. I cook for a lot of friends with cancer, so I would love to see your finished product.
This sounds fantastic! It is filled with all of the flavors that I love most. Thanks to you friend.
Yes, there are so many wonderful flavors in pho. I also love pho because of all the textures, the soft noodles, the crunchy bean sprouts, and the warming broth.
Wow – I love your soup and how it came to be. I wish Thuy and her family all the best.
Janet, thank you for your kind thoughts and wishes.
what a great legacy Thuy left – it looks like a great pho recipe – I have never made pho but it is one of my goals to do so one summer and as summer is upon me maybe this is the year I will do it – esp with a great guide like this one
Thanks Johanna, yes Thuy definitely left her mark. She is one of the main inspirations behind my blog.
What a wonderful story about your friend and the time you were able to spend with her. This beautiful pho and your words are certainly a lovely way to honor her.
Jeanette, I just happened upon your blog, someone shared a link to this recipe on twitter. What a wonderful tribute to your friend, Thuy. I am Vietnamese and am eager to learn my mom's recipe for pho. Thank you for sharing this, I will be sending this to my vegetarian sister. 🙂
Thanks Dara, this experience taught me that there is nothing more important than spending time with someone who needs your companionship. Everything else can wait. Like a good friend said at that time, "your priorities are what you make them." Those words really hit me and I changed my priorities to focus on Thuy. My four kids survived without me for the 10 months I spent with Thuy, and I feel blessed to have had the time with her.
Thanks Julie, you should definitely get your mom's recipe for pho. I'm collecting some of my mom's recipes. They are a treasure. Thanks for passing along my vegetarian pho recipe to your sister. I originally made the pho broth with vegetable broth,but since then have come across vegetable stock, which is lighter. Add water to dilute the soup as necessary as the one I used was quite concentrated.
Thank you Meg for your kind remarks. I learned so much from my experience with Thuy, and in many ways, grew as a person through it all. I am collecting some of my mom's recipes as she is a great cook, and her recipes bring back memories of my childhood.
Dear Jeanette,
You became a beautiful friend to Thuy. This is a very touching account of how you met your friend and documented her recipe and life. I will make this wonderful recipe for a special occasion … maybe when my daughter comes home on her Christmas break!
I once volunteered teaching English to Vietnamese boat people who were living in a Korean Red Cross camp waiting to immigrate to other countries. I got to taste some of their delicious food.
On documenting people's recipes. That was a wonderful act of love and service. I had a great aunt that was a wonderful cook. After she died, my mother, also a great cook sometimes agonized over the fact that my great aunt's sister got rid of all her recipes along with her other belongings. I could tell my Mom wanted to to forget about it but couldn't because being a cook herself she realized the importance of connection through this. It was heart breaking to her that these recipes more or less died with my great aunt (she died suddenly).
Jeanette, I'd love to read your cookbook someday, everything about you is beautiful!
Hello from a Vietnamese Student Association exec board member at UNC Chapel Hill! Thank you for this recipe and the lovely reminder that friendship leads us to astounding new experiences, adventures, and memories that traverse years.
I just wanted to say thank you so very much for this recipe. I am feeling under the weather today and this soup has made me feel so much better! Thanks again! 🙂
Hi Madeleine, I’m so glad you tried this recipe and enjoyed it. Definitely a good one for when you’re feeling a bit under the weather – a warming soup.
Thank you for sharing this and the heart touching story behind this recipe.
Candice, thanks for your note. It feels like it was just a few years ago that my friend passed away. She was an inspiration and continues to be in my work to spread the word about Food as Medicine.
That was a very touching introduction and the recipe sounds wonderful. I’m making this tonight in honor of your friendship with your friend Thuy. Thank you for sharing your story and your recipe!
Thank you for finding this post – it’s very special to me. Hope you enjoy the Pho!