Pho, Egg Rolls and a Trip to the Market (Part 2)

Finally getting around to finishing this post, which is long overdue. I'll skip to the good parts, and just post the recipes. If you missed it, here is part one.

My niece's handiwork, with a bit of Chinese mustard, Hoisin and Sweet and Sour. 

Pho Tai

For the broth:

3 lbs Beef soup bones (oxtails are recommended)

1 onion, charred

2-3 inch piece of ginger, charred

Fish sauce

2-3 TBSP Sugar

5-6 Cloves, whole

1 pod Cardamom, whole

1 TBSP Coriander, whole 

2 pods Star Anise, whole

1-2 cloves garlic, whole

To serve:

1 lb beef, sliced as thin as possible

Bean sprouts

Cilantro

Culantro

Thai Basil

Mint

Cooked Rice Noodles

Green Onions

Limes

Sriracha

Fish sauce

Put bones in a large stockpot and cover with water. Add charred onion, ginger, and sugar. Tie cloves, cardamom, coriander, anise and garlic into a bouquet garni (using cheesecloth, or improvising with a coffee filter as we did) and add to water. Heat to a simmer and continue simmering for about 3 hours, skimming off any scum as you go. As you near the end of the simmer, add a couple tablespoons of fish sauce and taste. Add more fish sauce and/or sugar as needed for balance. Strain broth, discarding bones, onion, ginger and bouquet garni. 

To serve, bring broth to a boil. Put a portion of the rice noodles in a bowl. Ladle hot broth over noodles, and immediately add a few slices of the beef. The hot broth will cook the meat.* Add whatever else from the list you'd like - I'm partial to green onions, Thai basil, bean sprouts, fresh lime and a touch of Sriracha. 

*Make sure your beef is really fresh. This isn't the place for the steak you got out of the discount bin.

Egg Rolls/Dumplings

Roast Pork:

2-3 pound Boston Butt

Chinese 5-Spice

Rub the pork with 5-Spice and roast, uncovered, for about 4 hours at 325, until it is tender and falling apart. Cool to the point you can handle it comfortably, and then pull apart, either with your hands or using a couple of forks. You can use this by itself to fill dumplings or use the filling for the egg rolls.

Egg roll filling:

6-8 oz roast pork

2 carrots, finely shredded

1/2 head red cabbage, finely shredded

1 TBSP Sesame Oil

Pinch Chinese 5-Spice

24 Egg Roll wrappers

Toss all ingredients (save the wrappers) together. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Fill wrappers with about 2 tablespoons of filling, brush edges with water, and roll. To roll, start with one corner, fold over the filling, tuck in adjacent corners, and finish rolling forward to the opposite corner. 

Rolling a dumpling (because we couldn't quite get them to fold correctly)

For dumplings, you can fold them into little pouches, or roll them as we did. The only real difference is that you use a smaller wrapper. Both can be deep fried, but the dumplings are really good if steamed for 3-4 minutes. Serve with hot mustard, Hoisin, or sweet and sour sauce.

For either the egg rolls or dumplings, once you make a batch, you can freeze them for later use. Just give them a little longer to cook.