An Ode to Phở
Liquid Gold.
When I get homesick it's usually for that deeply content feeling of sharing jokes with old friends, being welcomed at familiar places or the absolute simple pleasure of plonking yourself on your Mom's couch and talking about nothing and everything for hours.
Then there's Phở.
Having come from Melbourne where the Vietnamese food on Victoria Street is second only to Nam, I have relied on Phở to heal and nourish me for decades. It's warm, sweet, spiced aromatic broth gives me joy and always relieves the symptoms of a cold, heartache or hangover. The combination of eating a plant based diet and living on the Mediterranean has encumbered my Phở intake considerably until now. Also, I always thought I needed to simmer the broth for a gagillion hours, so I never attempted to make it. However a quick google search revealed otherwise (shoutout to @lazycatkitchen and @loveandlemons). I made this hybrid broth using three recipes as guides and adding my favourite selection of aromatics. Ginger and French onions were charred, fennel seeds, star anise, coriander seeds, cloves, coriander stalks and I used powdered cinnamon because I'm a fiend.
I also discovered that a little nutritional yeast #nooch adds a richness without using beef or chicken. Anyhoo, I'm now feeling a lot more excited about the coming winter months knowing that this will be on high rotation and it takes almost no time and effort to make. A golden bowl of liquid love and happiness, anytime.
