Keto Pho
Beef pho with a broth that tastes long-simmered in about an hour: charred onion and ginger and toasted whole spices simmered in beef broth, seasoned with fish sauce, and poured boiling over paper-thin beef and shirataki noodles. Serves 4 at 6.3g net carbs a bowl.
Equipment
- Large stockpot heavy-bottomed
- Fine-mesh sieve or slotted spoon
- Nonstick skillet for drying the noodles
- Sharp knife for slicing the beef
Ingredients
For the broth
- 1 large yellow onion peeled and halved
- 3 inch fresh ginger halved lengthwise
- 5 star anise whole pods
- 3 cinnamon sticks 3-inch
- 4 whole cloves
- 2 green cardamom pods lightly cracked
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 8 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 2 tbsp fish sauce plus more to taste
- 1 tbsp granulated monk fruit sweetener optional
- salt to taste
For the bowls
- 12 oz beef eye of round or sirloin, sliced paper-thin
- 2 packages shirataki noodles 8 oz each, drained
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1/2 cup Thai basil leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 2 green onions thinly sliced
- 1 jalapeño thinly sliced
- 1 lime cut into wedges
- sriracha optional, to serve
Instructions
Make the broth
- Char: Heat a large, dry stockpot over high heat. Set the yellow onion and fresh ginger halves in it cut side down and cook 4-5 minutes until charred black in patches, then turn and cook 2 minutes more. Lift them out.
- Toast: Lower the heat to medium. Toast the star anise, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, green cardamom pods and coriander seeds in the dry pot, stirring, about 3 minutes until fragrant.
- Simmer: Add the low-sodium beef broth and the charred onion and ginger. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer gently 30 minutes.
Prepare the bowls
- Slice: While the broth simmers, freeze the beef eye of round 15-20 minutes until firm outside, then slice it across the grain as thin as possible (about 1/8 inch). Refrigerate, covered.
- Noodles: Rinse the shirataki noodles under cold running water for 1 minute, shake dry, then stir in a dry nonstick skillet over medium heat 2-3 minutes. Divide among 4 large bowls. Slice the green onions and jalapeño, pick the Thai basil and fresh cilantro leaves, and cut the lime into wedges.
- Season: Strain the broth into a clean pot. Stir in the fish sauce and the monk fruit sweetener, if using, then taste and add salt as needed. Bring back to a rolling boil.
- Pour: Lay the raw beef in a single layer over the noodles. Ladle about 1 3/4 cups boiling broth over the beef in each bowl; it cooks as you pour.
- Serve: Top with the bean sprouts, Thai basil, cilantro, green onions and jalapeño. Serve with the lime wedges and sriracha on the side.
Notes
Thin beef, boiling broth. The beef cooks only from the broth, so slice it about 1/8 inch thick and pour the broth at a rolling boil. For well-done beef, dip the slices in the pot for 10 seconds first.
Low-sodium broth leaves room for the fish sauce, which supplies most of the salt. Season after straining.
Nutrition counts a quarter of the strained onion and ginger; the whole spices, salt, sweetener and sriracha are counted as zero.
Storage: keep broth, noodles, beef and herbs separate. Broth keeps 4 days in the fridge or 3 months frozen; do not freeze the noodles.