Rick Stein Beef Pho

 

This lovely recipe is taken from this book, I've only ever made pho from this recipe but ( having travelled to Vietnam ) it does seem pretty authentic, of course there are many many recipes as there are many interpretations of this dish. It seems complicated but once you get to grips with the two step side to making this its dead easy. 

The very first part of this delicious recipe is to make the beef broth, I always make this the day before as it takes all day to cook in the slow cooker, a lot of recipes call for stock cubes to be used but I haven't found one yet and actually the broth itself is really worth the effort.

Serves 4 

Ingredients for the Beef Broth ( makes 2.75 litres ) 

40g Peeled fresh ginger cut into 6 pieces

350g Peeled sliced shallots

4 Star Anise

2 x 7.5cm Cinnamon sticks

1/2 Teaspoon Fennel Seeds

900g Shin Beef ( very hard to find around here so I always use a large brisket joint ) 

1kg Beef marrow bones

2 celery sticks roughly sliced

2 Carrots roughly sliced

2 Onions roughly sliced

8 Cloves

1 Teaspoon black peppercorns

1 Tablespoon Salt

Ingredients for the finished dish

300gms Dried1cm - wide flat rice noodles  ( banh pho )

200g Piece Fillet Steak

10g each Thai sweet basil, mint and coriander leaves

5 Red birds eye chillies thinly sliced

2 limes cut into wedges

8 Spring onions, trimmed and sliced, green and white parts separated

4 Tablespoons Fish Sauce

100gms Beansprouts

The day before

Heat a large fry pan and toast the spices until they start to smell lovely, add to the slow cooker, fry all the veg in the fry pan to absorb all the lovely flavours of the spices and then add these to the slow cooker, add all the other ingredients into the slow cooker. ( Now it's worth mentioning at this stage that I have made this a few times now and the broth tastes exactly the same for not browning the veg first ) .Bring to the boil and skim off any scum that rises to the top in the process, add salt , lower the temperature to a simmer and leave all day cooking really gently.

Turn off the heat and when a little cooler, drain all the broth into a clean bowl and leave in the fridge overnight. Don't throw away the beef as this makes lovely sandwiches.

In the morning, any fat can be taken off the surface.

To make up the finished dish, bring the lovely broth to the boil, drop the noodles into a pan of boiling salted water, turn of the heat and leave to soak for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely slice the beef, put the basil, mint, coriander, lime wedges and chilles into separate bowls to serve.

Add the white part of the spring onions and the fish sauce to the broth, , drain the noodles and divide between 4 soup bowls. Top with the sliced beef the green part of the spring onions and the beansprouts. Ladle over the very hot broth and serve. 

Now this recipe ( for me ) is a little skimpy on the herbage so I always serve lots more herbs and have extra fish sauce and chilli oil  ( hot sauce ) on the table as we like it HOT.

Debs Chana Dal

 There's not a day that goes by when I couldn't eat a large bowl of dal honestly. Its taken a few years for me to get to the right place with a recipe that suits me but this one ticks all the boxes. I've made it so many times now that I rarely mess with the ingredients - I do change from standard Chana dal to lentils depending what I have available and I sometimes add another chilli but otherwise this one knocks together really quickly and makes use of all the storecupboard spices and ingredients that I always have available.

Ingredients

2 Cups Chana dal

4 - 6 cups cold water

1/2 teaspoon Turmeric

5 Tablespoons ghee or olive oil ( I always use olive oil )

2 Teaspoons cumin seeds

6-7 Finely chopped garlic cloves

2 Finely chopped onions

4 Large chopped fresh tomatoes ( or two tins )

2 Inches finely chopped fresh ginger

4 Chopped green chillies

1 Teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 Teaspoon turmeric

1 Teaspoon Garam Masala

1 Teaspoon dried amchoor

1 Large pinch Hing

2 Teaspoons ground coriander

Salt and Pepper

Fresh coriander

Rinse Chana well in cold water and soak for an hour - rinse well, cover with water and turmeric and simmer until soft ( about an hour )

Heat oil or ghee in a large flame proof pot and fry cumin seeds, add garlic and fry gently for a minute of so, add onions and fry until pale gold - do not burn- add chillies, ginger and tomatoes and stir for a few moments until all coated then add all the spices and stir for a few moments to release all the flavour.

Add spice mixture to the Chana dal and cook for a further 10 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste. When ready to serve chop some coriander for the top - delicious!!

This lovely dal freezes so well - I always serve with rice or bread and fresh tomatoes.

Rick Stein Prawn Curry

 I LOVE this recipe, I first watched Rick Stein having this made for him a long time ago and kind of sat on the recipe for a while - oh boy - once I made it ( soo simple too ) it became my go to if I fancied a sharp tangy fresh curry. In fact whenever we watch Rick in India I'm afraid that this is the one dish that I have to immediately make as can be seen by the messy state of the recipe page .

Ingredients

60mls Olive oil

1 Tablespoon Black Mustard Seeds

1 Large Onion Finely Chopped

24 Fresh Curry Leaves

3 Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped

2 Teaspoons Kashmiri Chilli Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Coriander

1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric

100gms Tomato Passata

100mls Tamarind Liquid

3 Green Chillies Chopped

1 Teaspoon White Wine Vinegar

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

500gms Large Prawns

Fresh Coriander and Basmati Rice to serve

Heat the oil in a large flameproof pot and add the mustard seeds until they start to pop, add the onion and half the curry leaves and cook for ten minutes until pale golden - do not burn - add the garlic and cook for a further three minutes, add the spices and fry for 30 seconds.

Stir in everything else plus a little water to create a sauce ( as thick or thin as you like )  and simmer for about 4 minutes until the prawns are cooked.

Stir in the remaining curry leaves and some chopped coriander and serve.