Pho Sai Luk Sin Moo - Pho Noodle Soup with Pork Balls

by Ponpailin 'Noi' Kaewduangdee, featured in A Child Of The Rice Fields

Published by Doi Ka Noi

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Introduction

Pho is a renowned Vietnamese dish of rice noodles in a light beef stock that is popular all over Laos. Often it is served with a combination of thinly sliced raw beef that is allowed to cook until medium-rare in the piping hot broth, and beef meatballs or Luk Sin Ngua. In Laos, unless you are eating in a Vietnamese-run noodle shop, the soup will not be seasoned as you would find in Vietnam. The stock itself is often made using pork rather than beef bones, and there’ll be no cinnamon, star anise or black cardamom used in the stock. Meat offerings will include chicken, pork and offal, and meatballs.

I have never been a fan of the bland and rubbery meatballs, Luk Sin, that are used in noodle shops, so my pho recipe is for a simple, clean-tasting pork soup with homemade pork balls. They are quick and easy to make. The addition of a small amount of smoked bacon takes these meatballs to another level. You can pinch nutmeg-sized pieces off the mixture, give them a light squeeze to bind the meat, then drop them into the stockpot to cook through for a few minutes before serving. My preference, however, is to fry them with a little lard or oil in a frying-pan until they become darkly tanned and slightly sticky. These can then be added to individual bowls at the table where they will release all that savoury and caramelised goodness into the soup. Oh, and don’t forget to cut any meat off the cooked stock bones to add to your noodles too. Bar a squeeze of lime and a teaspoon of Gio Mak Phet, Chilli, shallot and garlic oil, the well-made stock will require no additional seasonings.

The recipe for Gio Mak Phet is available here.

As featured in

A Child Of The Rice Fields

Image of Ponpailin 'Noi' Kaewduangdee's Pho Sai Luk Sin Moo - Pho Noodle Soup with Pork Balls — Photo by Mick Shippen

Ingredients

Serves: 8-10

Allow 200 grams pho noodles per person, if fresh. If using dried pho noodles, soak them in water for 30 minutes. A 400g packet will yield about 800g when rehydrated – enough for four or five persons.

FOR THE STOCK

1 large bulb of garlic (about 90g)
1 onion (about 230g)
3 bai yerm leaves (optional)
2 kilograms pork bones with a little meat on
8 litres water
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons seasoning sauce (homemade, Maggi or Golden Mountain Yellow Cap)
2 tablespoons Healthy Boy brand light mushroom soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
½ teaspoon sugar

FOR THE MEATBALLS

500 grams minced pork with a good fat content
100 grams smoked, dry-cured pork (good quality smoked streaky bacon will be great) – optional, but highly recommended
3 - 5 grams coriander roots and stems
1 large clove garlic (finely chopped)
50 grams red asian shallots (peeled, sliced and roughly cut)
2 - 3 grams fresh kaffir lime leaves (veins removed and finely sliced)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
a few sprigs of fresh coriander leaves (roughly chopped)
freshly ground white pepper
pork lard or sunflower oil for frying the pork balls

FOR THE CONDIMENTS

fried garlic in oil (see Additional Information, below)
Gio Mak Phet (chilli, shallot and garlic oil) - see Intro for link to recipe
lettuce leaves
herbs (mint, Thai basil, coriander)
yardlong beans
beansprouts (and/or pea shoots)
a few fresh chillies

Method

Pho Sai Luk Sin Moo - Pho Noodle Soup with Pork Balls is a guest recipe by Ponpailin 'Noi' Kaewduangdee so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe

To make the stock, grill the garlic and onion over charcoal until soft and fragrant. If using bai yerm, hold them over the hot coals for a minute or so each side until slightly coloured. Put the bones in the stockpot and pour in the water. Add the garlic, onion, bai yerm, salt, seasoning sauce, mushroom soy, fish sauce and sugar. Bring to the boil, then simmer for an hour, skimming any impurities that rise to the surface.
To make the meatballs, put the minced pork in a mixing bowl. Cut the bacon, if using, to a small dice and add to the pork. Chop the coriander roots and stems, then pound to a smooth paste. Add to the pork along with the garlic, shallots, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, coriander leaves and a few good grinds of white pepper. Mix well with your hands.

Serving the pho

When you are ready to eat your pho, remove the pork bones from the stock. Pick any meat from the bones and set aside. Heat a little lard or oil in a frying-pan and fry the pork balls until nicely browned and caramelised.
Line-up your noodle bowls. Bring the stock back to a simmer. Put one portion of fresh or pre-soaked dried pho noodles in a noodle basket or sieve and submerge in the stock for a second or two only. Drain and put them in a serving bowl. Add a teaspoon of fried garlic oil and lightly mix the noodles. Ladle over the stock. Repeat for all bowls, then top each one with any pieces of pork you picked off the bones and half a dozen or so pork balls per bowl. Add a spoonful of Gio Mak Phet, Chilli, shallot and garlic oil to taste and garnish with herbs.

Additional Information

HOW TO MAKE FRIED GARLIC:

You will need about 200ml of a neutral vegetable oil such as sunflower, 80g large garlic cloves, a wok or small frying-pan, a kitchen paper towel on a plate ready in advance, and a bowl with a sieve resting in it.

Peel and crush each clove of garlic with the side of a cleaver, then slice and chop but not too finely. Alternatively, you can use a few heads of the very small cloves of garlic and just bash them in a mortar to break them. These can then be fried using the method that follows, skins and all.

Pour the oil into a wok or frying-pan and add the garlic to the cold oil. Heat on a medium flame. As the oil warms up, stir the garlic constantly, paying attention to the edges of the pan where it is more likely to burn. As it begins to turn golden brown, remove from the heat and pour the oil through a sieve into a bowl. The garlic in the sieve will continue to cook and change colour for a minute or two, which is why it needs to be removed from the oil as soon as it begins to turn golden. If it overcooks, it will become bitter. Once the oil has cooled, you can pour it into an airtight container, then stir in all the garlic. The fried garlic in oil will keep well for a month or more.