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Ever since I discovered a restaurant with genuinely vegetarian pho, I've been in love. It is perhaps the perfect soup. And though my beloved local Vietnamese restaurant does sell what is an almost alarmingly generous portion for under $6, I would still sometimes rather not indulge in takeout, especially when it means going out in the cold (and car).
I tried making pho from this vegetarian recipe last night. It was decent, but not great, a fact I blame primarily on my lazy use of storebought broth. A different, clearer storebought broth might have even done the trick, but as I have a freezer container full of vegetable scraps awaiting stockmaking, I will try homemade next. I also browsed around in beef pho recipes for some other ideas, which I will use in my next try. For my later reference:
- After making broth, char ginger and onions under the broiler and pop those in along with the other ingredients for the final simmer.
- Also add whole cloves and parsnip, if you have some.
- A little sugar (1/2 t, perhaps) and a dash of vegetarian worcestershire would not go amiss.
- 2 pods of star anise seems right for four cups of broth, not eight.
Reader suggestions would not go amiss, either. Well, they might, but I have faith that they won't.
PS. There is a very nice essay about vegetarian pho at The Veg Blog, where I found the link to the abovementioned recipe, as well. I am surprised to find that I hadn't run across this site elsewhere (thanks, Google!), but that is probably just because I haven't been paying attention. It is good.
**UPDATE**
For the version that worked, see this entry here.
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