What's for Dinner: Vegan Pho

I've been sick all week. Like in the bathroom sick. I've been living on bread, vegetable soup and popcorn (my body likes starchy food when it rejects everything else). My poor husband who hates cooking has had to make dinner for himself (and homemade dumpling soup for me) every night this week, and I've been having cooking withdrawals.

I went stir-crazy last night. At 10 p.m., at the first sign of feeling better, I declared that I was going grocery shopping. I put together a meal plan for the next two weeks, made a list, and headed for the markets.

I'm a bargain shopper, which means running to up to six (yes, 6!) stores in order to get the best deals. We'll talk more about this soon, but the gist is I got 12 days worth of groceries for me and my husband for around $75.

A huge portion of this $75 (okay, so like $8 worth, but that's a lot for one meal!) was for a vegan pho recipe that I've been itching to make.

Vegan Pho

Recipe adapted from The Cozy Herbivore

Ingredients

Broth

1 large onion, peeled

1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled

3 cloves garlic

2 oz. shiitake mushrooms

1 large daikon radish, peeled and chopped

1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

pinch salt

pinch pepper

1 tsp. anise seed

1 tsp. fennel seed

1 cinnamon stick

1 cardamom pod

1 tsp. coriander

4 C vegetable stock

2 C water

1/4 C genmai-matcha tea (I found this at Huckleberry's in the bulk section)

1/8 C soy sauce

Tofu

1/2 block water-packed extra-firm tofu, sliced thinly

2 Tbs. soy sauce

1/2 C corn meal

Toppings

8 oz. thin rice noodles (prepared by steeping in boiling water for about 7 minutes)

bean sprouts

cilantro

finely chopped jalapeno, seeds removed

basil

lime wedges

1. Broil onion, ginger, garlic and mushrooms, flipping them every few minutes so char appears on all sides. Remove from oven. Reduce oven to 350 degrees.
2. While letting the oven cool, combine daikon, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, flip, then bake 10 minutes more.
3. Meanwhile, chop onion, mushrooms, and ginger. Smash and peel garlic. Set aside. Dry-toast anise, fennel, cinnamon, cardamom, and coriander in a skillet over medium heat. Remove daikon from oven (leave oven on).
4. Combine vegetable stock and water in a large pot. Add vegetables and spices. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, dip tofu slices in soy sauce then in corn meal, then place on greased baking sheet. Bake in oven for 5-7 minutes, flip, then bake for about 5 minutes more.
6. Uncover broth and add tea. Allow to simmer about 2 minutes. Remove broth from heat and strain with a fine strainer. I chose to preserve some of the onion and mushroom by tossing them back into the broth, but this is optional.
7. Prepare a bowl by combining broth, some noodles and tofu. Top with bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, and some jalapeno. Squeeze in some lime.

A lot of work, but YUM.