Ox Tail Pho

If you’re finding yourself at home all day on the weekends like me (or even working from home!), this is a great time to make soup. Soup is so easy to make, but just requires a lot of waiting. So while I was binging some Netflix this weekend I thought, why not cook up some delicious warming soup?! 

Made some ox tail pho noodle soup this weekend. The best part is the soup is only 6 ingredients and 6 steps. Staying on the theme of simplicity, assemble the dish with rice noodles, bean sprouts, basil, and a splash of lime juice. 

Ingredients - Soup

• 3 lb Ox tail

• 1/2 yellow Onion, quartered

• 5 Star anise

• 4 inch Ginger

• Fish Sauce

• Salt
  

Soup:

1. Parboil the ox tails - boil for 10 mins and drain. Set aside.

2. On medium-high heat, pan fry 1/2 onions for 1 min. Set aside.

3. On medium-high heat, pan fry star anise for 30 secs. Set aside.

4. Combine ox tails, onions, star anise, and ginger into large pot. Fill up with filtered water.

5. Once it comes to a boil, reduce to low heat, cover and simmer for 3.5 hours. Remove any fats/oils that simmer up to the edge of the soup, and add in more water as it simmers and reduces liquid.

6. Add fish sauce and salt to taste. 1 tsp of fish sauce at a time, and 1/2 tsp of salt at a time. For me, it was about 4 tsp fish sauce and 2 tsp salt. Varies with taste and volume of soup.

Ingredients - Noodles

• Rice noodles (or any noodle of choice)

• Bean sprouts

• Fresh basil leaves

• Lime

• Siracha [optional]

• Hoisin sauce [optional]

Assembling the Noodle Soup:

1. Boil rice noodles until softened, drain and add into your serving bowl

2. Ladle the hot soup on top of the noodles

3. Add in toppings: bean sprouts, basil and lime [optional]

4. Add in sauces: siracha, hoisin sauce [optional]

Tips:

1. As the soup simmers, there can be some oils that come to the top of the pot. Grab a ladle and carefully remove some of the top layer.

2. When you let the soup cool down and stored in the fridge overnight, a top white layer will form. That is the fat, and you should grab a small spoon and scoop away the top layer.

3. Toss out the star anise and ginger when serving