Vietnamese Pho meets Thai Tom Yum

Pho is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup. When I was small my family would only eat this when visiting my aunt and uncle in Paris. We would go to this one place in China Town. Everybody would get this huge bowl with noodles and soup. As a child I remembered I had to share it with my mom or brother, because it was so big. The contents almost looked endless back then. The table would fill up with herbs, bean sprouts, sauces and my favorite chinese donuts. Afterwards my belly would feel full and warm, real comfort.

Most of the times the broth is beef based. Chicken is also possible but less popular. The broth is made with bones, spices and a lot op patience. Because the most important element of the broth is time. I'm not that patients and when I do make it myself, the flavor of the broth is always a let down. So now the only time I eat it is in California. My cousin makes a killer Pho, but also the many vietnamese restaurants will always serve a great Pho! You will get big bowls, steaming with all the different add-ons on the side. The bowl is layered with some pho rice noodles, then covered with some raw thinly slices beef and topped with the lovely hot boiling broth. The broth will cook the beef in front of your eyes. Now you can choose from your plates of add-ons, bean sprouts, mints, cilantro, chopped green onions, lime. So when you find a way of getting to all this flavors in one scoop, you can dip the whole thing in black hoisin.

One of my other loves in Asian soups is Thai Tom Yum. Tom yum is a Thai hot an sour soup with prawns or sometimes other seafoods. I fell in love with this soup, spending my nights with my cousin and her hubby in Hollywood's Thai Town. Since then I sometimes order the soup, but I rarely eat Thai food in Holland. The last time was in Chongqing, when I went out for dinner with a colleague.

Around a week ago I was craving both. I was in no mood to take the hours to make the Pho broth. So I looked up some easy Tom Yum recipes, I found out it was dead simple to make your own. As long if you can balance the flavors right! This solved my soup craving, but I still missed the noodles. Letting my craving get out of hand I combined the Pho noodles and add-ons to the Tom Yum soup. And I have to say, magic happened!

Note: Indirectly I also found a solution to share these lovely soups and tastes with my friends. Now I could easily make a meat-less version. Making the soup not chicken or beef based, but just using vegetable or herb broth and replacing the fish sauce with soy sauce.

Vietnamese Pho meets Thai Tom Yum 
Vegetarian and non-vegetarian version for 4-6 people

For the Pho noodles and add-ons
1-2 package of Pho Noodles or rice noodles
Optional herbs and veggies: Green onions, bean sprouts, mint, cilantro, chopped chilli.
Optional add-ons: Lime wedges, peanuts (chopped or whole), pappadums (thin Indian crisps, you can buy them in almost every market. The Asian market has more flavors though, easy to prepare, just pop in the microwave for 30-45 seconds.)

For the Tom Yum soup base
2 liter of stock, chicken for the non-vegetarian version, vegetable or herb for vegetarian version.
2 stalks of fresh lemongrass, pounded
6 kaffir lime leaves
5 cm piece of fresh ginger of galangal, sliced
1-2 red chiles, sliced
3-4 gloves of garlic, minced
4 tablespoons of fish sauce for the non-vegetarian version
4 tablespoons of soysauce for the vegetarian version. 
2 teaspoons of sugar
1-2 limes, juice
1 cup of coconut milk
Optional protein: 300 grams of medium size raw shrimp or a portion of Mai tofu, diced.
Optional veggies: Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, daikon, cherry tomatoes, green beans, pumpkin, zucchini and many more, washed and cut

Bring the stock to the boil Add the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal or ginger, and chiles. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes to let the spices infuse the broth. Prepare the noodles, follow the instructions on the package. Wash the herbs and cut the veggies.

Uncover the soup and add the fish sauce/soysauce, sugar, and vegetables. Simmer for 5 minutes. When using shrimp put them in and cook for about 8 minutes until they turn pink. Or add the tofu. Remove from the heat and add the lime juice. Taste for salt and spices; you should have a balance of spicy, salty, and sour. If it's to spicy for you, you can add the coconut milk now. But you can also serve it at the table, giving eveybody the chance to use as much coconut milk as they want.

I like eating this in a DIY-kinda way. By putting all the components on the table and letting everybody get what he wants. But I will explain how to  serve up a bowl. Place some bean sprouts in the bowl, cover with a hand full of noodles. Scoop some simmering soup over it. Now getting to the add-ons, you can add the green onion and herbs. Add some spoons of coconut milk to take the spiciness down. For some crunch, break some pappadums and crumble over the soup or toss in some peanuts. Serve with lime wedges on the side.

Note: Let people know that there are slices of ginger/galangal and chili inside, next to the lemongrass and lime leaves. You don't have to eat them, at this point they did the job of flavoring already.

This soup will make your flavorbuds go crazy, hitting every flavor on your tongue. This is why I love this kind of food. It's a light meal, but the soup will fill you up. Giving you a warm fuzzy feeling on the inside and a little buzz of the chilli, enjoy!