Vegan Pho

My most favoritest soup ever!

Ingredients

1 Large Onion peel on and cut in half

1/2 a head of garlic, peel on cut in half (separate top and bottom, keep cloves attached to each other)

1. First I take an onion, a couple shallots, some garlic cloves and maybe an inch and a half or so piece of ginger cut them in half, all with the peels on (I rinse them off and peel of any layers that look nasty) and put them in a pot with 2 cinnamon sticks, maybe 5 or so whole cloves, a couple star anise and one or two cardamom pods and turn the burner up to high - I have electric so if using gas may not want it so high and char them, you don't want to smoke yourself out but some charring is good, put the vent on. I have a pho pot just for this because it can leave burn marks on the pot.

2. Add the 4 quarts of vegetable broth to the charred vegetables. Bring to boil then reduce to simmer.

2. While the broth is simmering cut the veggies. I use anything I have really, carrots celery, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, summer squash, peppers, baby corns bc they are super cute. Sometimes if I use tofu I press it before. I blanch the veggies in a separate pot of water and rinse in cool water them bc if you leave it in they over cook and get soft - ew - also I cook some rice noodles and rinse them too separately bc soggy noodles - double ew - while all this is going on I have a air fryer and I would put the tofu with some soy sauce and sesame oil and cook it to desired texture, for the oyster mushrooms I peeled them off individually and threw them with some thing sliced onions in the air fryer until a little crisp.

Then I strain the broth and put it back in the pot with maybe 2 tbs of soy sauce and some sesame oil, I never measure so maybe a tbs but that could be too much maybe half tbs? I let that simmer while I cut up herbs thai basil or basil, cilantro and scallions or chives really whatever I have, and some limes. wash the bean sprouts if I have them.

The hoisin was a hodge podge of what I had not really what the recipe I found said bc I didn't have it all but Scarly liked it more than store bought so here is estimated what I did. I don't measure unless I am baking so it could be off so adjust to taste if you use it.1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tbs maple syrup, 1teas rice wine vinegar, 1/2 tbs siracha, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs sesame oil, 1 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice - mix and adjust to taste and let sit a bit to let the sugar dissolve and the flavors to mix in.

Then is assembly, I put the noodles on the bottom, then veggies, then broth, the tofu or mushies, bean sprouts, herbs, lime, hoisin, siracha, and I usually use some of fried shallots or those crunchy onions they use for green bean casserole because they always have them in the store... hmmm... I think that is it? If I think of anything else I will let you know!

OH and jalapeños or some sort of chili pepper usually, I didn't get any in my veggie box this week so I didn't have any. Another note is that I stagger putting the veggies in the pot bc I don't like overcooked veggies so things like squash and celery go in first and last would be carrots and peppers