This is my and my husband's all time favorite Vietnamese dish. Even surpassing Pho! It's hard to find in restaurants but it's easy to make at home once you have the right ingredients. I've developed the recipe so it can be made in a slow cooker. It's typically made with only carrots in the soup along with the beef, but I can't resist adding potatoes or turnips as well. I typically use my favorite cut of meat for slow cooking, top round, which is a leaner cut of meat than is traditionally used. This recipe is delicious with well marbled brisket as well.
This dish can either be served with rice noodles or with French bread to soak up the delicious broth. I use bullion cubes from the Asian grocery store to flavor the broth in this recipe. My favorite is the Bao Long brand Bo Kho cubes, but any other brand's Bo Kho flavoring will work.
Ingredients
- 2.5lbs top round or brisket, cut into cubes
- 1.5 lbs carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
- Optional 1lb baby yellow potatoes, cut in half
- Optional 2 turnips, cut into cubes
- 6 Bao Long brand Bo Kho bullion cubes, or a comparable amount of another's brand Bo Kho bullion powder
- 4 inch piece of ginger peeled and cut into slices approx. 1/4 inch thick, or 3 Tablespoons ginger paste
- the center of 4 stalks of lemongrass, outer layers removed and halved then smashed, or 3 Tablespoons lemongrass paste
- 8 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large white onion cut into large slices
- 1 teaspoon Gocugaru red chili flakes
- 1 Tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon MSG
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Mix 4 Bo Kho bullion cubes with 2 cups water (I like to microwave the cubes in this water for 1 minute to help the cubes break up with a fork). Place the beef cubes into this mixture and allow to marinate at room temperate for about 30 minutes while chopping the vegetables and proceeding with the recipe.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the onion, garlic, lemongrass and ginger until the garlic is a rich brown color. When the aromatics are finished frying add the beef along with it's marinade liquid, carrots, and optional potatoes and turnips to the slow cooker along with the aromatics. Add 2 quarts of water and the 2 remaining bullion cubes to the slow cooker, as well as the Gochugaru, fish sauce, soy sauce, MSG and salt.
Set the slow cooker to cook on high for 4 hours and 15 minutes. At the end of the cooking time taste the broth and add more fish sauce, soy sauce, MSG and sparingly salt to taste. Serve with rice noodles or bread for dipping. Enjoy!
Fantastico
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