I’ve been curious about Vietnamese food ever since I developed a crush on Spike Mendelsohn when he was a contestant on Top Chef. The promise of a mix of spicy and sweet intrigued me, but I never got around to trying Vietnamese food until recently when Chicago’s Big Pho opened up a branch near my office. I brought two bowls of the steamy rice noodle soup home for dinner and my husband and I were hooked.

When I offered to host vegan friends for our weekly TV night this seemed like an exciting challenge! I combined the recipe for Mark Bittman’s Faux Pho with a couple recipes I found online to create the amazing broth. I made a double-batch for our dinner party, and served it up with all the fixins, many picked up at my local H-Mart Asian Grocer:

  • Mung bean sprouts
  • Thai Basil
  • Cilantro
  • Sliced Jalapeño
  • Five-Spice Tofu, cubed
  • Napa Cabbage
  • Pea Pods
  • Fresh Lime Wedges
  • Hoisin Sauce
  • Sriracha Sauce
  • Thinly sliced steak for the carnivores

The recipe for the wonderfully rich vegan broth follows behind the cut. This made 8 dinner servings for my dinner party but could easily be cut in half. It was an enormous hit and I’ll definitely be making it for another dinner party in the future!

Vegan Pho Broth

  • 2 tbsp peanut oil
  • 8 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 3 tbsp ginger (I minced some fresh and the rest I used from a jar)
  • 3/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 3 star anise pods
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 12 cups water

In the bottom of a stock pot heat up your peanut oil. Sauté the garlic and ginger until just softened. Add the soy sauce, coriander and nutmeg and stir to combine. Let cook for 1–2 minutes and add the water, star anise, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves.

Bring to a rolling boil and let cook for 10 minutes. Remove the star anise and cinnamon sticks or the flavor runs the risk of becoming too strong. I let my broth sit for 3–4 hours (made it at lunchtime, served it at dinner time) so the flavor of the broth could really develop.

Serve the broth over Vietnamese rice noodles (prepare to package directions) and garnish with fresh veggies and condiments as listed above.