Vegetarian Pho Noodle Bowl

Pho - my - word is this ever a tasty recipe, and so much easier to make than I thought. Don't let the ingredients intimidate you - it's just like baking a cake, but with spices you might not have tried before. The good thing is, once you buy them, they store well and double as awesome ingredients for homemade chai lattes.

As an added bonus, the depth of flavours make this dish incredibly satiating (you feel full and satisfied after you eat it.)

A great way to incorporate nature's medicine into your food is to eat more herbs and spices.

Am I a vegetarian? No, but I do like to give my digestion a break from meat proteins  If you'd like, you can always sub the tofu for chicken or beef.

It tastes...

Such a sophisticated depth of flavour. It's spiced (but not spicy), sour (because of the lime) and salty from the soy sauce.

Takes about 30 min. to make and serves 4-6 

Ingredients:

For the broth

• 2 small yellow onions roughly chopped
• 6 cloves garlic sliced in half
• 2 inches fresh ginger roughly chopped
• 2 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks or 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 star anise pods
• 4 whole cloves or 1/2 tsp ground
• 8 cups clear vegetable stock
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce + 2 tbsp. for sautéeing tofu or meat

For the soup

• 1 lb. rice noodles
• 8 oz. firm tofu, cubed
• 6 green onions thinly sliced (both green and white parts)
• 1 ¹⁄₂cups bean sprouts
• 6-8 leaves of fresh basil and mint, thinly sliced
• 1 large handful fresh cilantro
• 1 lime cut into wedges (for serving)
• garlic chilli sauce or sriracha for drizzling

Make it like so...

1. Chop onion, garlic, and ginger and add to a large pot on medium high heat. Measure your spices and add to the pot. Stir and cook spices with vegetables until slightly charred (about 5 minutes)
2. Add 8 cups of broth, 3 tbsp. soy sauce and bring to a boil. Once boiled, reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for 20 min.
3. While soup is simmering, heat hot water for cooking rice noodles. Make noodles according to directions on package. Because I used thin rice noodles, I boiled hot water and let the noodles soak in the recently boiled water for 5 min. until soft.
4. Prepare tofu (or protein of choice such as chicken or beef). For some added flavour you can sautée your tofu or meat with some fresh garlic and soy sauce.
5. To assemble, add noodles to your bowl. Top with hot broth, tofu/meat, sprouts, herbs. a fresh squeeze of lime and possibly some hot sauce.