I have been in a weight management group since the first of the year.
In attempts to get calories to 2425 a day and keep fat , refined sugar, salt to a "normal level " has been a struggle. I can get the calories down, but if I get the sugar low the fats and salt go up and the fiber drops. And on and on and on.
So the one thing that has helped is making soups and salads a lot.
So any way I have been going to the grocery store more often to get fresh vegs.
Any way. I went Friday to the local produce/ organic foods food market, and there was a lot of fresh Asian vegetables in, and fish and soup bones.
So I got the supplies and decided to make a Pho as close to the recipe as possible and hopefully get all of the nutrition levels within reasonable levels
So here is my version of a beef Pho with some adaptations to get it to fit my diet.
Oh ya. OMG this was so good and flavorful.
1 lb. Beef marrow bones
1 1/2 lbs. roast scrap bones (saved in the freezer for just this occasion)
4 cups of water
1 had full of onion skins out of the onion drawer
7 cloves of garlic (crushed and chopped)
1 inch ginger root (crushed and chopped)
one bunch of baby carrots (about 2 cups of sliced carrots)
2 Thai eggplants Chopped
3 green onion/Scallions sliced on the bias
3 stalks of celery Chopped
1/2 of a large green chili chopped/diced (if you want heat leave in the seeds)
6 mushrooms sliced/chopped (my family will not eat sliced mushrooms, but the will if I chop them)
1/2 tsp. ol bay seasoning
1/2 tsp curry spice
1 tsp. Lemon Grass (I have dried, but if you have fresh you need to chop up one stalk of just the lower white part)
1 snack bottle of 100% apple juice (not snake like I typed the first time)
1/3 cup Pinot Nori Wine Vinegar (this is what was in the cabinet and I did not want to use up the rice vinegar that I had.)
A beef steak of choice (I had both franken ribs and sirloin )
Bean sprouts
Snow peas.
rice noodles
This is not a "quick" soup!
In the morning preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place beef marrow bones on cookie sheet and place in the oven for 1 hour.
In a large pot on the stove add 4 cups of water, onion skins, roasted bone marrow bone and "fat/liquids", and any extra beef bones that you have) and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about two hours.
Turn of pot and let cool.
Place a colander in a bowl and drain the "stuff" out of the large pot.
Remove the onion skins (the nice thing is that when pot cools the fat collects on the onion skin)
Remove any meat off of the bones and save, also squeeze the bone marrow to loosen any "juice".
Discard all of the bones, gristle, and other solids in the colander.
Place the stock from the bowl in a grease separator and collect just the liquid.
Now for the Actual Soup.
In a clean large pot add the stock, Garlic, ginger, apple juice, wine vinegar, Ol Bay, Lemon grass, and curry powder. Bring to a boil and reduce to medium low and let simmer for about 1 hour.
Mean while chop up/ slice the carrots, green onion, green chili , eggplant, celery, and the mushrooms.
Now for the point where every thing is happening at once.
Place the chopped/slice vegetables into the Pho
Cook the rice noodles to the package instructions.
Grill the steak to a nice medium. This will be sliced thin on the bias to add to the final dish.
Ready the bean sprouts and snow peas for the garnish.
Now The issue that I had is the Pho had gotten very "thick" so I needed to add 2 cups of water and bring back up to 165 degrees by turning the heat up but not to hi!!!!
Now to serve.
in a nice size soup bowl add 1 serving of rice noodles then two scoops of the vegetable, two ladles of broth, add a few pieces of sliced meat, then cover with a nice size pinch of bean sprouts and a few snow peas.
Dig IN!!!!
I got some nice Naan to go with it.
All I can say is "BURP"!!!!!