The Best Instant Pot Pho Ga
“Dude. Holy shit. So good! I’m going to be the first in line for your cookbook. The whole family loved it. I’m eating my last bowl right now and am sad its gone.”
Photo by Jennifer Schmidt
IS THERE ANYTHING MORE COMFORTING THAN AN AROMATIC, SHINY, AND HERBACEOUS STEAMING BOWL OF PHO?
While I truly believe the answer is a resounding, Nope, I am up for a healthy debate, depending on the day. I would say, however, having it ready in less than 1 hour is infinitely better! My Instant Pot Pho recipe, suitable for vegans and meat-eaters alike, is a base of gut-healing broth and warming spices with a variety of garnishes and textures. I love how versatile the recipe is- easily adjustable to your diet or mood.
WHY I LOVE THIS RECIPE:
Naturally free from gluten, dairy, soy, corn, and sugar (yes, the restaurants put an insane amount of sugar in their recipes. Classic, but depleting)
Done in less than 1 hour. While the broth is cooking, you prepare the noodles and garnish
Clean-up is a breeze as you have used just one cutting board and the Instant Pot
Cost effective. Even as organic, all of these ingredients are very inexpensive, especially when garnishing with seasonal vegetables
Healthy. Bone broth is considered one of the most powerful foods. The water is infused with nutrients from the bones and vegetables such as zinc, selenium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, vitamins A and K, fatty acids, manganese, and more. It also contains collagen supportive of joint, skin, hair, and nail health; and glutathione- an essential for antioxidant defense, nutrient metabolism, gut integrity and repair, strong cellular function.
Its fun! Everyone loves garnishing their bowl to their liking. Its a great dish for kids to practice their independence with food.
CONTINUE READING FOR THE HISTORY OF PHO AND NUANCES OF MY RECIPE OR CLICK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD IT NOW!
I know I am not alone believing that the little feeling of joy that boils up as I watch 6 giant bowls of wafting broth and noodles make its way towards us while balancing on that 2.5-foot wide tray is one of life’s simple pleasures. Without discussion, we perform the sanctity of garnishing: each combination as individual as we are. Extra Thai basil, skip the Hoisin and jalapeno, add a touch of sambal, handful-and-a-half of sprouts, full squeeze of lime and drop it in. If you serve me a lemon, I will judge you. Cloudy broth gets you extra points.
Phở or pho is a Vietnamese soup consisting of broth, rice noodles called bánh phở, a few herbs, and meat primarily either beef or chicken, and accompanied by regional vegetable garnishes. Pho is a popular street food in Vietnam and a specialty in a number of restaurant chains around the world. Possibly the earliest English-language reference to pho was in the book Recipes of All Nations, edited by Countess Morphy in 1935. In the book, pho is described as "an Annamese soup held in high esteem ... made with beef, a veal bone, onions, a bayleaf, salt, and pepper, and a small teaspoon of nuoc-mam (fish sauce).” Following the Vietnam War, refugees brought pho to cities around the US. In 1980, the first of hundreds of pho restaurants opened in the Little Saigon in Orange County, California. As relations between the U.S. and Vietnam improved in the 1990s, pho began entering mainstream dining- quickly popping up in cities along and between both coasts.
Stock photo by Unsplash
BEING AS THE BROTH IS MY FAVORITE PART, I CREATED THIS MORE AROMATIC VERSION AND ITS READY IN LESS THAN 1 HOUR .
While I fully respect the tradition and believe it has a place whenever we can make it available, I love the Instant Pot for many reasons including time, cost, space, and health.
Time: The Instant Pot is a mutli-cooker that serves as a rice cooker, slow-cooker, and pressure-cooker to cook everything from cheesecakes to short ribs in a fraction of the time it would take to braise (ahem, dry out) your Sunday pot roast in mom’s crock pot. Being a Private Chef, my business is based on the goal of: how can I yield the highest quantity, resulting in the highest quality, in the least amount of time? Similarly, this is your goal. The faster I cook something, the more time I have to create other dishes or spend quality time elsewhere. Just like a slow-cooker, you can set a delay to start several hours later, to end just before you get home.
Cost: The popularity of the Instant Pot have increased so much so that you can score one online for less than $70. And because you’ll be cooking in the fraction of the time it takes a crockpot, you’re saving dollars on energy. Double win.
Space: I find it takes up much less space on the counter and in storage than a slow-cooker. So, go ahead and donate that rice cooker and crock-pot!
Health: Many legumes and pulses such as lentils and beans contain inflammatory lectins (essentially, plant chemical warfare to fight against us eating them) that break down during pressure cooking. Have an intolerance to these? Try pressure-cooking them with water for 20 minutes (or until tender) after rinsing, and see how you react. Many clients of mine missed the texture of lentils until they were able to have them again using the pressure-cooking method. If you are still having issues, you may have an intolerance to their polysaccharides (essentially, plant-sugars).
While I fully respect the tradition and believe it has a place whenever we can make it available, I love the Instant Pot for many reasons including time, cost, space, and health.
Time: The Instant Pot is a mutli-cooker that serves as a rice cooker, slow-cooker, and pressure-cooker to cook everything from cheesecakes to short ribs in a fraction of the time it would take to braise (ahem, dry out) your Sunday pot roast in mom’s crock pot. Being a Private Chef, my business is based on the goal of: how can I yield the highest quantity, resulting in the highest quality, in the least amount of time? Similarly, this is your goal. The faster I cook something, the more time I have to create other dishes or spend quality time elsewhere. Just like a slow-cooker, you can set a delay to start several hours later, to end just before you get home.
Cost: The popularity of the Instant Pot have increased so much so that you can score one online for less than $70. And because you’ll be cooking in the fraction of the time it takes a crockpot, you’re saving dollars on energy. Double win.
Space: I find it takes up much less space on the counter and in storage than a slow-cooker. So, go ahead and donate that rice cooker and crock-pot!
Health: Many legumes and pulses such as lentils and beans contain inflammatory lectins (essentially, plant chemical warfare to fight against us eating them) that break down during pressure cooking. Have an intolerance to these? Try pressure-cooking them with water for 20 minutes (or until tender) after rinsing, and see how you react. Many clients of mine missed the texture of lentils until they were able to have them again using the pressure-cooking method. If you are still having issues, you may have an intolerance to their polysaccharides (essentially, plant-sugars).
Creating flavor from simple ingredients involves simple methodology. Luckily, those used in this recipe are: slice, broil, simmer, boil, and skim. First, we slice the vegetables for cooking and then those for garnish while the broth is simmering. We broil the sliced ginger and onion to get deeper, fragrant notes out of the roots. Then, we infuse nutrients and flavor into the water by simmering the bones and/or vegetables. Lastly, once cooked, you can choose to skim some of the fat off the surface of your stock. I prefer to leave it all in with chicken, while using a ladle to skim off half of the fat from fattier meats like oxtail and duck. This is also wonderful to do with roasted fish heads and bones. You may need to skim debris before straining.
I add extra warm spices like cardamom, clove, and star anise in addition to cinnamon, many of which you wont find in some regional recipes. Beyond their amazing anti-inflammatory properties, the warm spices signals comfort to the brain through a calming in the belly (more on the physiology of this in another post). The ginger lends a soothing effect to the stomach while stimulating digestive fire, and the onion (both cooked in the broth and raw, shaved as garnish) has profound medicinal properties recognized since ancient times, when they were used to treat ailments like headaches, heart disease and mouth sores.
To increase nutrients and fiber, I add raw vegetable garnish like thinly sliced carrot, broccoli, and extra fresh herbs. The rice noodles are totally optional. More than half of the time, we use our spiralizer to make zucchini or sweet potato noodles! Also completely optional is the inclusion of meat altogether. A vegetarian version with mineral-rich sweet potato, mushroom, and kombu will deliver adequate nutrients, especially when paired with a perfectly poached egg (because, eggs are happiness).
