Shrimp and beef pho

Ingredients

SERVES 4

2 litres of chicken stock

50ml light soy sauce

25ml lime juice

2 large cloves of garlic

1 tbsp finely sliced fresh ginger

½ stick of cinnamon

4 bok choi

2 large spring onions

20 plus large prawns, deveined and butterflied

340g of good beef, finely sliced into ribbons

250g of Asian noodles

400g of bean shoots

250g of chestnut mushroom, very finely sliced

1 can of water chestnuts

1 can of bamboo shoots

6 chunky chopped baby sweetcorn

Bunch of fresh coriander

Sriracha sauce Sesame seeds to garnish

METHOD

1 Place broth, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger, and cinnamon in a large saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Let simmer for 5 minutes over a low to medium heat.

2 Strain the broth into a much larger pot, removing the ginger garlic and cinnamon and put back on the heat to gently simmer.

3 Cook your noodles separately according to the instructions and set aside. For my beef, I like to gently tenderise it with a meat hammer regardless, unless it’s an amazing soft fillet. Nothing too much, just a little on each side to soften it.

4 Then finely slice the meat and add to the simmering broth along with the bamboo shoots and water chestnuts.

5 A few minutes before serving, add your shrimp/ prawns to the broth and cook for a few minutes only until they go pink. I prefer them nice and juicy so cool them lightly. The more you cook them, the tougher they get, not to mention smaller.

6 At the same time, add in the roughly chopped whites of the bok choi, whites of the spring onions and the baby corn and then a minute from the end, add the green tops of the bok choi to the broth.

7 To serve, divide your noodles into four generous bowls, add bean sprouts and mushrooms and then spoon over the broth ensuring everyone gets equal beef and prawns. I say this because if I leave my wife in charge of the serving, her bowl always seems to contain most of the prawns.

8 For us, there’s always a debate on how to finish our bowls but we all agree that a generous handful of coriander, long slices of spring onion greens along with a good measure of sriracha sauce for some heat are the key garnishes. Toasted sesame seeds add a little added texture and you could add in fresh chillies or a little extra sliced ginger for more punch. One final flourish is to squeeze some fresh lime juice on top, it really does liven up the entire dish.

9 Enjoy this as it is meant to be enjoyed which is casually around a table with friends and some cold beers. A really cool tip for a casual dinner with friends or the family is to make this a build-your-own version where you put all the ingredients in various bowls on the table along with a large central bowl of steaming hot broth and allow everyone to create their own. Just keep you eye on those precious prawns…