Boh! Savory beef noodle soup

There is something about the Vietnamese beef noodle, Pho, that is very comforting when one catches a cold. Of course, the restaurants would keep their recipes secret. At our home, there is always an incentive for me to try something similar to restaurant food, without pushing towards exact copying. After all, home cooking is home cooking. Here is my recipe of a beef noodle soup. My husband loves it so much, he names it "Boh!" (Biscuit's version of Pho).


Recipe: Boh! (my homemade beef noodle soup)


Ingredients:
- 12 oz beef/lamb stock
- 4 oz lean beef, cut into small thin pieces
- bunch of oriental noodle (enough for 1 person)
- about 1/10 of a small onion, sliced to very thin circles
- 1/2 spring onion, finely chopped
- 2 small pieces of star of anise
- 3 hua jiao pepper seeds (花椒)
- dash of cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- dash of salt

Procedure:

1. Preparation of the stock:

Broil 1 lb of lamb shoulder cut in oven to brown both sides. Transfer to slow cooker. Add one chopped onion, 1-2 glass of red wine, and fill with hot water to cover all the lamb. Let cook on high setting until boiling, then turn to low and cook for 8 hours or more. Skim fat and filter to obtain stock. If stock is to be saved for future use, do not skim fat. Pour into 12-oz jars and allow fat to float on top. Cover and let cool, then chill in fridge. Fat will form an insulating layer to seal the soup. 1lb of lamb makes about two 12-oz jars. So the stock is very thick.

2. Preparation of the noodle soup:

Use 12-oz of stock for 1 serving of beef noodle soup. Heat stock with 2-3 cups of water on high heat. Add star of anise, pepper seeds and cumin. Let boil for 10 minutes then keep warm for 30 minutes or more. 15 minutes before serving, heat up stock on high heat. When boiling, add oriental noodle and let cook for 10 minutes or until soft. Just before serving, keep soup boiling and add onion slices and spring onions. Then add beef and salt. Stir. Let boil for 1 minute. Serve with sesame oil.

Some time later, I checked out Pho recipes online to see what ingredients people actually use. Not bad. I've got most of the spices right by sheer guessing!