Shortcut Beef Pho - Soupy Noodle #3

I was actually searching for another beef noodle when I bumped into this recipe.
I ate this before in Vietnamese restaurants, some being really tasty and some forgettable.

Still having a big container of beef stock powder that was given to me by my brother, I made this noodle, shortcut way by using stock powder instead of beef bones. If you need a recipe with beef bones, please refer to source. And if you want to know where my brother got the beef stock powder, it's at Jaya Grocer, at the Korean food section.

The beef here is raw, cooked by merely pouring boiling broth over it. Hence, it's really tender and pink.
To ease slicing the beef, freeze the beef and thaw it at room temp for half an hour. If the beef is half frozen, you can slice it really thinly. The thinner it is, the quicker it'll cook :)

I don't know if you noticed, both pictures lacked something, hahaha. The 1st bowl lacked lime and the 2nd lacked beansprouts, LOL. Talk about being anxious to eat, one for me, one for my hubby!

Shortcut Beef Pho

Original source: Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors
As seen on Steamy Kitchen
Servings : 6 (about 2 cups broth per pax)


Broth
3L water
½ Tbsp coriander seeds
½ Tbsp fennel seeds
2 cloves
2 star anise
1 pc cinnamon (2 inch long)
1 cardamom pod
1 red onion
2 inches ginger
1 Tbsp beef stock powder
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp rock sugar
Salt to taste

1. Half onion and ginger, leave the skin on. Place a rack on top of the stove. Turn on the fire and turn it to medium low. Put the onion and ginger on the rack, cut side down and roast it until it chars slightly. Rinse both ginger and onion to get rid of any loose char bits.
2. Place charred onion and ginger into a 5L capacity pot (you can use a bigger pot, of course). Put in all the spices and water. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer for 1 hour. Strain the broth and discard the solids.
3. Return the spiced broth to the pot and bring to a boil. (top with water if water level has gone too low, I maintained a 3L amount) Put in beef stock powder (or cube), fish sauce, rock sugar and cook until everything dissolves. Taste. Add salt if necessary.
4. Cook beef balls at this point if needed. Turn heat off until it’s almost time to serve.
5. When it’s time to serve, bring broth back to a hard rolling boil.

To Serve
500gm yellow noodles, blanched (My husband likes this instead of rice noodles)
300gm dry rice noodles (soaked and cooked according to package instructions)
250gm beef, thinly sliced (used raw)
Cooked Beef balls (I used 30 beef balls and 20 beef tendon balls)
Spiced Beef Broth
Condiments
         :-Thai Basil, Fresh Mint, Coriander (Mine dried up, so I omitted it last minute), Bean
         sprouts (raw), Bird’s eye chilli and Lime wedges

Place some noodles into a big bowl. Arrange some beef balls and tendon balls. Then lay beef slices on top of noodles. Bring soup to a rolling boil and pour boiling broth over the raw beef. Top with preferred condiments and serve.