Cook Like A Chef30 Minutes

Vietnamese mushroom Pho

Name: Vietnamese mushroom Pho
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 100g dried mushrooms; 3 cloves garlic, sliced; 1 brown onion, sliced; 1 thumb sized lump of ginger, crushed; 2 star anise; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 tsp chilli flakes; 1 tbsp coriander seeds; 2 tbsp white wine vinegar; 2 litres vegetable stock; 1 carrot, finely sliced into ribbons; 1/2 cabbage, finely sliced; 100g dried noodles; Soy sauce, to season; Coriander, to garnish; Mint leaves, to garnish; Lime wedges, to garnish

Mark MoriartyFrom the series · Cook Like A Chef

30 min totalServes 2Easy

Time30 min

Serves2

SkillEasy

ShowCook Like A Chef

Method

Begin by infusing your vegetable stock, warm your stock in a pit and add half the dried mushrooms. Allow this to infuse for 30mins before straining the mushrooms.

Place the stock on the heat and reduce by half. You want to be left with approximately 800ml of broth

In a separate, heavy based pot, add the coriander seeds, star anise, cinnamon and chilli flakes. Increase the heat and allow the spices to lightly toast in the dry pot. Add some vegetable oil before going in with the remaining mushrooms, garlic, onion and ginger with a touch of salt.

Cook this out over a low heat for 2-3 minutes until the onion has softened

Now go in with the vinegar and reduced stock and bring the liquid to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and allow to infuse for 15 minutes.

At this point, add the carrot ribbons, cabbage and noodles and allow to simmer for a further 15mins until the noodles are cooked through.

Season the broth further with some Soy sauce (it may also take a tsp of honey) and remove the star anise and cinnamon stick before spooning into bowls and topping with the ripped up herbs and lime wedges

Cook's notes

Toast the whole spices in the dry pot until they smell fragrant before any oil goes in — that's your cue to move on, and it gives the broth far more depth.
Give the dried mushrooms their full half-hour in the warm stock, then reduce the strained broth right down to about 800ml — that concentration is where the body comes from.
Taste the broth at every stage, the way we would in a restaurant kitchen — soy for seasoning, a teaspoon of honey to round it out, and on the show I sometimes reach for a little hoisin too. The lime at the end brings the brightness.
Cut the vegetables fine — ribbons of carrot straight off the peeler and cabbage sliced thinly by rolling your knife through it — so they cook through in the broth alongside the noodles.
Fish out the star anise and cinnamon stick before serving so no one gets a mouthful of whole spice.

Serve with Pile on the fresh mint and coriander and serve with lime wedges to squeeze over. A little dish of extra soy and sliced red chilli on the side lets everyone season their own bowl.

Make ahead & storage The broth keeps well for two to three days in the fridge; store it separately from the noodles, which turn soft and bloated if left sitting, and cook fresh noodles when you reheat.

30 MinutesAsian

Recipe by Mark Moriarty · From the series Cook Like A Chef · Photography © Appetite Media
Published 13 July 2026 · Updated 15 July 2026

Nutrition

Per serving · estimated

373kcal

17gprotein

72gcarbs

5gfat

Approximate — calculated from the ingredient list using USDA food data. A guide, not a medical figure.

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