Ingredients
Beef broth
3.5 kg beef bones
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole star anise
6 garlic cloves, peeled
2 white onions, peeled and roughly chopped
5 cm fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
15 - 20 ml fish sauce
65 ml dark soya sauce
For the bowl
1.5 kg vermicelli noodles
300 g beef fillet, frozen to slice thinly
250 ml spring onion, thinly sliced
500 ml bean shoots
To serve
125 ml thinly sliced red chilli (enough to split between 10 bowls)
25 ml fish sauce per chilli bowl (optional)
Instructions
METHOD BEEF BROTH
- Set the oven to 200°C.
- Place the beef bones, cinnamon sticks, star anise, garlic cloves, and onion on a roasting tray and roast for 30 – 45 mins, or until the bones have turned a nice golden brown.
- Transfer the contents of the baking tray to a large pot.
- Cover the ingredients with enough water so all the ingredients in the pot are covered with 3 – 4 cm to spare.
- Bring it to the boil, turn down the heat to a simmer.
- Add the ginger, fish sauce, and dark soya sauce to the broth.
- Let it simmer for 3 hours, making sure that you regularly skim off the excess fat that floats to the top of the pot. Use a slotted spoon dipped in water to do this and discard the fat.
- As you reach 3 hours of simmering, taste the broth and if you’re happy with the beef flavour coming through, strain the broth into another pot and discard all the other ingredients from the broth.
- Let this clear broth simmer until you have to serve it, skimming off more fat if you need to.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with salt & pepper and or any other flavours like fish sauce or soya sauce.
METHOD FOR THE BOWL
- Cook the vermicelli noodles as per the packet instructions. Be careful not to overcook, otherwise it will be soggy.
- Thinly slice the frozen fillet and place at least 4 slices of beef into the serving bowls.
- Add some of the cooked noodles, at least 10 ml of spring onion and bean shoots to the serving bowl.
- Serve the sliced red chilli in a separate bowl on the side to give your guest the option to add more spice if they want to. You can add some fish sauce to this if you would like to, but it is not necessary. Make sure the broth is piping hot and add it to a jug, so your guests can pour it over the dish themselves.