This warm and spicy vegan recipe is from one of our favourite veggie cookbooks, Martha Goes Green: A Vegetarian Cookbook.
We have many customers asking for vegetarian and vegan recipe books, particularly parents thinking it would be a good present for their son or daughter who are following that choice. These recipe books are also a great gift idea for Uni students and young adults on a budget because meat-free eating is generally cheaper.
Martha Goes Green is a self-published, lovingly-crafted cookbook by Melbourne friends. It's printed on recycled paper with vegetable based inks and comes packaged in a bag made from fair-trade organic cotton.
Vegetarian pho (rice noodle soup)
Serves 4
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 whole star anise
- 4 whole green cardamom pods, bruised
- 6 whole cloves
- 3 shallots, peeled, halved
- 6 garlic cloves, halved
- 5cm piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms
- 6 cups of vegetable stock
- 3 cups water
- 1/4 cup of light soy sauce
- 200g vermicelli (rice noodles)
- 2 cups fried bean curd puffs, cut into bite sized cubes
- 3 cups roughly chopped chinese cabbage or pak choy
- 16–20 whole vietnamese mint leaves
- 1/2 cup roughly torn fresh coriander leaves
- 2 long red chillies, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced spring onions
- 1 1/2 cups mung bean sprouts
- 2 limes, cut into wedges (to serve)
Place cinnamon sticks, star anise, cardamom pods, cloves, shallots, garlic, ginger and dried mushrooms in a large pot over a medium to high heat. Dry roast for 2-3 minutes or until garlic and ginger begin to char.
Add vegetable stock, water and soy sauce to the pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
Strain broth through a colander, discard solids and return liquid to pot. Place back on to heat and simmer for a further 15 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare rice noodles by placing in a bowl or pot and covering with boiling water. Rice noodles generally take 2-5 minutes to soften but more specific times can be found on the back of the packet.
Drain and divide into four large serving bowls. In the last few minutes of simmering time place bean curd puffs and Chinese cabbage or pak choy into broth to heat through for 2-3 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove vegetables and bean curd puffs from pot and divide among serving bowls. Ladle broth into each bowl and top with Vietnamese mint, coriander, chilli, spring onions and bean sprouts.
Serve with lime wedges.
Note: Fried bean curd puffs are found in the chilled section of Asian supermarkets.
Recipe reproduced with permission from the authors.
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