SpiceLines

It was overcast this morning, with what the weather service likes to call
“wintery mix”—in our case the occasional rain drop interspersed with an ice crystal or two. In Hanoi it was also cloudy with passing rain showers, but the temperature was a spring-like 18 degrees Celsius. Still we could almost imagine ourselves there because, like practically everyone in Hanoi, we were breakfasting on a bowl of pho.

Pho is the breakfast of choice for Hanoi champions. Served at street stalls in the old town, it is an aromatic beef soup simmered with charred onion and ginger, then with cinnamon and star anise. The resulting broth is fragrant with the sweet scent of the commingled spices and the dusky undertones of nuoc mam, or fish sauce. Served with rice noodles and slices of raw and cooked beef, topped with chopped onion, cilantro, mint, green chilies and lashings of sriracha and hoisin sauce, it is the kind of breakfast that fortifies even the most most sleep-deprived citizens for a day of work.

Everyone who makes pho does it a little differently. Our recipe comes from Ha Guthrie, former owner of Kim Son restaurant in Durham, North Carolina. One afternoon, Ha invited us into the kitchen to show us how to make gio thu, a Hanoi-style black pepper and pork “pate” eaten during New Year’s celebrations. While we were chopping pigs’ ears and scallions, a vat of broth for pho was gently simmering on the back burner, perfuming the kitchen with the most irresistible aromas of licorice and cinnamon. A few weeks later, she gave us the recipe by phone, then stopped by to rescue us as we bumbled erratically through our notes. This is the perfected version.

Ha Guthrie’s Pho: Beef Soup with Cinnamon and Star Anise

Ingredients for soup:

4 pounds beef bones
1 package oxtails (about 8 pieces)
1 whole medium onion, unpeeled
1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, unpeeled
1 cup cilantro stems, bottom 4 inches
1 4-inch piece of daikon, unpeeled and in one chunk
2-1/2 pounds chuck roast, in one piece
10 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick, 5 inches
2 tablespoons nuoc mam, or Vietnamese fish sauce (see note)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
16 ounces rice stick noodles (see note)
1-1/2 pounds eye round roast, thinly sliced

Ingredients for garnish:

1/2 onion, thinly sliced
3 scallions, green part only, sliced
cilantro tops, finely chopped
1 small bunch basil
1 small bunch mint
1-1/2 cups bean sprouts
1 or 2 fresh jalapenos, thinly sliced
hoisin sauce
sriracha sauce (see note)
limes, cut in half, 1 per person

Method:

1. Place beef bones in a large stock pot with cold water to cover and soak for 2 or more hours. Drain, cover with fresh cold water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and drain. Rinse off bones. Clean the pot and return the bones to the pot. Cover with 20 cups of cold water and bring to a boil. Add the oxtails and return to a boil. Skim the impurities from the surface and simmer over medium-low heat, partly covered, for 3 hours.

2. While the stock is simmering, char the onion in the flame of the gas burner. Char the ginger and cut in half.

3. After the beef bones and oxtails have simmered for 3 to 4 hours, add the charred onion, ginger, cilantro stems, daikon and chuck roast to the pot. Simmer for one hour. Remove from the heat and strain into another pot. Reserve the chuck roast.

4. One hour before serving: Return the stock to a simmer and add the star anise and cinnamon to the pot. Place the noodles in another large pot, cover with plenty of water, bring to a boil and cook until soft. Drain and set aside.

5. Thirty minutes before serving: Add the fish sauce, salt and sugar to the simmering stock.

6. While the stock is simmering, thinly slice the chuck roast and set aside. Thinly slice the raw eye round and set aside. Prepare a plate of garnishes for each person: sliced onion and green tops of scallions, a few stems of basil and mint, bean sprouts, slices of jalapeno, a half lime, a mound of rice noodles, and several slices of chuck roast.

7. To serve, place a few slices of raw eye round in each bowl and top with the hot stock. The stock will partly cook the eye round, but it should remain medium rare. Serve each person with a plate of garnishes and dishes of hoisin and sriracha sauce.

Note: Nuoc mam, sriracha sauce (made of fiery red chilies) and rice stick noodles can be found at Asian markets. Nam pla, or Thai fish sauce, may be substituted for nuoc mam.

Editor's note: For more on pho, see "Good morning, Vietnam" by Alex Renton for The Observer, Sunday, May 16, 2004.

(adapted from Maria Elena Serena, Coatepec)

In Coatepec, Dona Elena pours chicken stock into a light, tropical mole made
of guajillo chiles and sweet, ripe pineapple, peaches, pears and apples.

In her last post, Claire was recovering from a shock by making manchamanteles. It is a luscious tropical mole, or sauce, which, in this version, consists of little more than spicy chiles, charred tomatoes and sweet, ripe fruit with a touch of Ceylon cinnamon. Manchamanteles literally means “tablecloth stainer;” you will understand once you see its brick red color.

Guajillos are dark red, smooth-skinned dried chiles. They are long and narrow, tapering to a point at one end, and have a slightly fruity flavor. The Scoville scale, which measures the capsaicin content of chiles, puts the guajillo in the 2 to 4 range which makes it warm and spicy, but not too hot--an ideal complement to the sweet fruit.

For the best flavor, try to buy “fresh” guajillo chiles—even though they are dried, they should be soft and supple. When frying, do not let them burn or turn black—if you do, the mole will be bitter. That means gently sautéing them just until the inner surface turns a light golden brown. This will happen very quickly, so it is best to fry the chiles one at a time.

The spice most of us call “cinnamon” is actually a close cousin known as cassia. Mexican recipes traditionally use Ceylon or “true cinnamon” which is grown in Sri Lanka. It is light brown in color, with layers of crumbly, soft bark rolled into concentric layers. Its flavor and aroma are less pungent than cassia and far more complex: sweet. warm and woody with whispers of clove and citrus. (For more on Cinnamon, including recipes and an interview with Susana Trilling, see SpiceLines newsletter at www.globalprovince.com/spicelines/index.htm.)

This recipe is adapted from Maria Elena Serena, a superb cook who invited us into her home in Coatepec, Mexico for a wonderful cena and cooking lesson. Dona Elena is very health conscious, so she has substituted canola oil for the lard that might ordinarily be used in making manchamanteles. Traditionally, this mole is served over the boiled chicken from which the chicken stock has been made “The sugar and the protein are very good for energy,” she told us.

The mole is also delicious with grilled pork loin, chicken or duck breasts. Claire has been known to eat it right out of the pot.

To serve four:

Ingredients for the chile mixture:

1/4 pound guajillo chiles (see note)
4 to 6 tablespoons of canola oil
1 medium onion, sliced thin
5 garlic cloves, sliced thin
4 large plum tomatoes
A one-inch piece of Ceylon cinnamon (see note)
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 to 2 cups rich chicken stock, preferably homemade from a whole cut up chicken cooked with onion and garlic (reserve the chicken pieces)

Additional Ingredients for the mole:

3 tablespoons canola oil
2 apples, peeled and cored, cut into medium dice
2 firm, ripe medium peaches, peeled and cut into medium dice
2 firm, ripe medium pears, peeled and cut into medium dice
3 cups pineapple, cut into medium dice
1 to 2 cups rich chicken stock
Salt to taste

Reserved chicken from the stock

Method for the chile mixture:

1. Wipe the chiles clean with a damp cloth. Using kitchen scissors, snip off the stem and cut vertically down one side of each chile. Open it up flat and remove the seeds and membranes. Repeat with the other chiles.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet over a medium flame. When the oil is hot, reduce the heat to low and lightly sauté the chiles, one at a time, for a few seconds on each side. The best way to do this is to open up each chile and flatten it before putting it in the oil. Saute very gently until the inner surface turns a light golden brown. Do not let outer surface turn black, or the chile mixture will taste bitter. If necessary, lower the heat and add one or two more tablespoons of canola oil to the pan.
3. When all the chiles have been sautéed, put them in a large bowl and pour very hot water over them to cover. Set aside to soften.
4. In the same oil as the chiles, saute the sliced onion until it is golden brown. If necessary, add another tablespoon of oil. Remove and set aside. Add the sliced garlic cloves to the pan and sauté until golden. Remove and set aside.
5. Heat a cast iron griddle or skillet over a medium high flame. When it is hot, sear the plum tomatoes until the skin blackens and begins to peel. Remove, chop coarsely and set aside.
6. When the chiles are soft, drain them in a colander. Tear the chiles into pieces and place them in the blender. Add the sautéed, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cinnamon, black pepper and 1 cup of chicken stock. Whirr until the mixture is smooth, adding a little more stock if necessary.
7. Even after blending, the chile mixture will probably contain bits of chile and tomato skin and small pieces of cinnamon. To remove them, pass the mixture through a food mill set into a large bowl.

Method for the mole:

1. Place a large, non-reactive skillet over a medium flame and add 3 tablespoons of oil. Add the chile mixture. When it begins to bubble, add the fruit. When it bubbles again, add some chicken stock. Begin with one cup: the mole should be liquid, but not watery. It will thicken slightly as it cooks.
2. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes, or until the fruit is soft. Remove from the heat and add salt to taste.
3. To serve: Arrange the reserved pieces of chicken in a shallow bowl and pour the warm mole sauce over them. Serve with rice and a light green salad.
4. Other options: The mole is delicious over plain grilled pork loin or chops, grilled chicken, or grilled duck breasts.

Note: Whole dried guajillo chiles and sticks of Ceylon cinnamon can be found in Hispanic food markets and in the international section of some supermarkets. On the web, both can be ordered from www.penzeys.com.