Pho Bo

The boy loves Vietnamese Pho (pronounced Fir) – it’s a proper slurping soup with beef and noodles. We’re cheating a bit on the stock, but I think it should be light and delicate, rather than rich and strong

350g flat rice noodles

6 shallots, thiny sliced

1 Pak choi sliced

2 spring onions, finely sliced

3tbsp chopped coriander

1 litre beef stock

1 thumb of ginger, bashed

2 sticks cinnamon

1/2tbsp coriander seeds

2 pieces star anise

1tsp each salt, pepper, sugar

2tsp nuoc cham or fish sauce

200g skirt steak, sliced very thinly

To Serve

200g beansprouts

1 lime cut into wedges

A fresh red chilli, sliced

Sprigs of mint and basil

Make the stock. If using cubes or the like, make it slightly weak. Perhaps not the whole cube. Add the bashed ginger, cinnamon, coriander seed, star anise. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the  sugar, salt, pepper and fish sauce. Strain and keep it warm over a low heat. Add the pak choi and spring onions.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the noodles. Place some into each of your serving bowls. Get the boy to find the Chinese soup spoons and chopsticks.

Add some of the shallots and coriander to the noodles in the bowls and top with the raw beef. Ladle the hot broth over, so the beef starts to cook. It’s essential that it’s very thinly sliced.

Arrange the herbs, chilli, beansprouts and lime wedges on a plate and use them to customise the soup to your taste. I like the herbs in my soup but the boy likes to nibble them in between. You’ll need the chop sticks to delve for noodles and slices of beef, and the spoon for the broth. I’m always amazed at the boy’s adeptness with chopsticks given he can be quite clumsy at the best of times. Needles to say, adeptness is not elegance, and this is a messy dish for slurping. The tablecloth can be washed.

 My final recommendation would be a small bowl of chilli sauce to dip the beef into. The authentic Vietnamese kind is called Srirracha. The best brand comes in a plastic bottle with a picture of a rooster on it. I can’t get the boy to stop calling it Hot Cock Sauce.