For the Broth

Step 1

• Bring the broth, anise, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, and cumin to a boil over medium heat. The broth is the most important ingredient in this dish; use a good quality broth, and if it's low in fat, even better.

Step 2

• We cut the onions into quarters, and chop the ginger, shallots and garlic.

Step 3

• We heat a little oil in a frying pan over high heat to lightly sauté the onions and ginger
• Once they've changed color, add the shallots and garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds; it's important that the garlic doesn't burn. Pour everything into the pot of stock.
• We wash and clean the lemongrass, discarding the dry leaves, the top part of the stalk, and the root end. We crush it with the flat side of a knife and add it to the broth.
• Cover the saucepan and let it simmer over medium-low heat for 1 hour. 6. After an hour, strain the broth and discard the solids. 7. Add the sugar, fish sauce, and salt as needed.

For the Noodles

Step 1

• If we use rice noodles, we will need to hydrate them before cooking; we cover them with cold water in a container for 7 minutes.
  We follow the cooking time instructions for the pasta we use and try to have them ready at the same time as the broth.
• We drain the pasta after cooking it

For the meet

Step 1

• In a separate pan, prepare the meat to your liking. Cut it into bite-sized pieces.
  To Serve

Step 2

• We divide the pasta into 2 large bowls (or 4 small ones) and serve the meat on top of the pasta.
•  We filled the bowl with broth.
• We put all the garnish on a plate and let everyone finish preparing the pho to their liking at the table.