Wherever I live, there needs a LOT of Asian food around me. I don’t mean the one Chinese restaurant where everyone in town orders their greasy takeout. I mean somewhere that I can find some good dim sum, bún chà (rice noodles with BBQ pork), pad thai, curry, and lumpia in a pinch. Somewhere that I can find some obscure Chinese sauce if a recipe calls for it. How can I ever leave the Bay Area? When I lived in D.C. a few years ago, there were two things that I missed sorely: a proper Asian supermarket where I can find all my Chinese sauces and a decent Vietnamese restaurant. The first problem was remedied by care packages from home twice a year (usually around finals time). The second problem was never resolved. That’s why I need to learn how to make Vietnamese food myself, so that I never run into any problems when pho or bún chà is hard to find. Pho broth usually takes a few hours to make, but I used this trick from Bon Appétit to speed up the cooking process: charring the onion and ginger on a skillet before throwing it into the stock pot. This pho broth involves onions and a few spices: Just a word of warning, the flavor of star anise is STRONG. If you’re not a fan of it, just leave it out. The other spices will save the day. Let’s get ready to slurp!
