Vegetarian Pho

When our favorite Pho restaurant was shut down because a Lowe's was moving in (gggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr), I couldn't find a vegetarian version of the soup anywhere. This is a combination of recipes I found online. It's pho-king delicious!

Definition of Pho from Wikipedia: "Pho (Vietnamese pronunciation: [fuh]) is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef (pho bo) or chicken (pho ga).[1] The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with basil, lime, bean sprouts, and peppers that are added to the soup by the consumer."

This recipe takes less than an hour and will make four large bowls of pho.

Broth
60 Oz Vegetarian Broth
8 star anise
1-2 sticks cinnamon
8 cloves
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced
8 cloves of garlic, quartered
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 onions, quartered
3 shallots, halved
6 cups water

Veggies (just some suggestions)
carrots
bok choy
broccoli
cauliflower

Noodles
1 package thin rice noodles

Pho Fixins
fried tofu
jalapeno
lime
bean sprouts
cilantro
basil
mint
Sriacha hot chili sauce

- Heat a large pot over medium high heat.
- Add the garlic, onions, star anise, cloves, ginger to to pot. Stir over heat until it begins to brown.
- Add the broth, water and soy sauce.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Strain the broth into a new pot, reheat.

- Wash the cilantro, basil, bean sprouts and mint.
- Slice the jalapeno.
- Quarter the lime.
- Arrange everything on a plate.

Prepare the noodles as described on the package. The one I used were immersed in boiling water for 10-15 seconds, then rinsed.

- Add about a cup of noodles to the bottom of each bowl.
- Pour hot broth over the noodles.
- Add vegetables (carrots, broccoli, etc), allow to sit for a few minutes.
- Add tofu.
- Serve with chopsticks, a spoon, Sriacha hot chili sauce and the plate of fixins.
- Everyone should add the fixins to their soup as desired, remove the jalapenos when it starts getting too spicy.