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Active Time
1 hour
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Total Time
1 1/4 hours
In its traditional form, this classic Lao soup is made with noodles rolled out and cut to order for each bowl. It is still excellent made with dried rice noodles. You can substitute fish, chicken, or pork for the beef, but rice noodles are an essential ingredient. The Lao like a considerable amount of lime juice in their food—here a range is given so that you can flavor the soup to your taste.
Ingredients
Serves 4 as a main course
Step 1
Discard any dry outer leaves from lemongrass and coarsely chop bottom third of stalk. Heat oils in a 5-qt. heavy pot over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook shallot and chiles, stirring, until dark brown (be careful not to burn), 3 to 4 minutes. Add lemongrass and galangal and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
Step 2
Add broth, fish sauce, star anise, cinnamon stick, salt, and white pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Pour through a fine sieve into another pot and discard solids. Add tomatoes, scallions, and lime juice and simmer until tomatoes are softened, about 10 minutes.
Step 3
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for noodles. Trim fat from steak and season with salt and pepper. Heat a well-seasoned ridged grill pan over moderately high heat until hot, then grill steak 4 to 5 minutes on each side for rare. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing very thin.
Step 4
Meanwhile, cook noodles in boiling water until tender, about 6 minutes, and drain. Divide among 4 large soup bowls and top with spinach and steak. Ladle soup over and sprinkle with mint.
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Reviews (15)
Back to TopOMG...these flavors are great. I ate two bowls. I used one serrano chili and it provided great heat. I used 2 TBSP lime juice and it was plenty. This will be in the rotation!
ellenharrell2
Jacksonville Beach, Fl
2/12/2018
This is a family favorite. I have been making it for years. Sometimes I add enoki mushrooms, and I will use basil instead of mint if that's what I have on hand. Have made this dozens of times at this point. It's worth making a double batch of broth and freezing it for a quick weeknight dinner.
Anonymous
Brooklyn
1/17/2018
Used ground galangal as I had on hand and chicken breast to cut calories. Broth was fantastic. Not sure if I messed up, but had WAYYY too many noodles. Ate half of the recipe all by myself!!
jujuloafer
Lynn, MA
9/21/2012
This was so delicious even my 7-year-old loved it. I used filet instead of sirloin. I might tone down the chili pepper a bit next time but the broth was fantasic and the whole dish felt very healthy.
Anonymous
Brooklyn
2/6/2012
Had to make some substitutions, but it was really good and I look forward to doing it again, following the recipe more precisely
majaz
3/26/2011
This is so good! Awesome. Stands up well to any modifications neeeded or wanted.
Anonymous
4/20/2010
A great soup that lends itself to changes based on what you have on hand - in my case I had white mushrooms and bean sprouts. Added the mushrooms to the broth, put the sprouts into bowls with the noodles. Delicious!!
vanisland
12/3/2009
Aromatic AND flavorful! My bowls didn't have enough room to pile the spinach on top of the noodles so I just stirred a bunch into the soup at the same point that the tomatoes were added...perfection! Much, much, much more hearty than I expected!
Anonymous
10/9/2009
I've been making this repice for years now, & it consistently turns out well. I omit the chilies & tomatoes, and double the amount of lemongrass called for. This soup base is wonderfully aromatic: all the spices called for are key! You can then be creative with whatever type of noodle, vegetable and meat combination you want. Definitely recommended!
情景应用程序hamol
2/4/2006
Since we eat out at Vietnamese noodle places a lot, I found myself trying to imitate "pho" through this recipe. I thought the star anise and cinnamon were too "hard-core", so I took them out after a few minutes of simmering. Too much heat from the chilis, and too sour from the lime juice, so next time I will cut back, and serve them at the end, on the side, so each individual can adjust to their taste. Also, I would love to add bean sprouts to this. Can't wait to experiment with this again!
Anonymous
Union City, CA
8/10/2003
我们制作了这个豆腐(煎几分钟s) instead of beef. We couldn't find fresh lemongrass, so used a few pinches of dried; in place of the Thai chilies we used one jalapeno with half the seeds removed, which yielded just the right heat. We were going to add the sesame oil at the end so as not to burn it, but the soup turned out not to need any. You don't need to bother straining the broth as long as you eat around the star anise and cinnamon stick; dried lemongrass is a little stiff to chew, but fresh would probably be delicious. It seems like the suggested amount of spinach is rather a lot; we used about 5 ounces of torn-up spinach plus some fresh Chinese coriander (yummy!). We wilted the greens in the soup for a minute or two at the end. Although it took us about 1 1/2 hours to make, it wasn't very difficult. The soup was delicious and we will definitely make it again.
Anonymous
Cambridge, MA
11/13/2002
The portobellos worked very well. I made a few other changes, mostly to accommodate personal taste. I added three cloves of minced garlic to the shallots and chiles. I substituted black pepper for white pepper, took the cinnamon stick out after two minutes, and dispensed with the tomatoes altogether. My nine-year-old daughter declared, "I'm in love with this soup!" We agree!
Anonymous
Vancouver, WA
5/17/2001
This made a pretty nice soup. I used grilled portabella mushrooms instead of the sirloin. Filling and just the right amount of spice iwth one chili.
Anonymous
Discovery Bay, CA
3/14/2000
This is an excellent dish. Be sure to use fresh lemongrass and lime. I also added garlic to the meat before grilling. Since I hadn't cooked this before, I followed the recipe closely.
Andy Kligerman
Hillsborough, NC
11/22/1999
Although the steak, spinach and (I used fresh) rice noodles are lovely together, my family found the broth to be either bitter or sour. We couldn't identify which of the ingredients accounted for this unpleasing taste.
Anonymous
Santa Clara, CA
9/25/1999
