Easy veggie pho

Major temp drop had me craving some noodle soup today : ) Here's a rough recipe for a super easy vegetarian pho. I say rough because I don't measure my spices. I feel like with soup you should season to taste not measurements, because we all like different levels of things ! I add different things to this depending on what I have at the moment, but I'll just note what I had today:

32 oz box of vegetable stock

4 cups water

1/4 cup soy sauce

3/4 white or yellow onion, quartered

(save the other 1/4 for garnish)

2 star anise

2 sticks cinnamon

4 whole cloves

fresh ginger

garlic powder

cayenne powder (optional)

handful cilantro stems

noodles of choice - i used bean thread vermicelli

cilantro leaves

kale

shiitake mushrooms

First on medium heat I toast the cinnamon, anise & cloves for about 5 minutes. Then added onion & cilantro stems & let those char for a minute

Then add the veggie broth + soy sauce + water & threw in 4 1/2 inch thick slices of ginger. Bring to a boil - then down to a simmer for one hour. Then season to taste. I added cayenne to make it spicy + a half tablespoon of garlic powder. I know I said vegetarian but I added fish sauce to it too.. hehe. Not necessary but again.. me=thai. Once the taste is right strain the herbs out of the broth.

Then cook noodles & toppings of our choice & add broth on top ! I like bean thread vermicelli because it's so light. It's also all I had. I pan fried some kale & shiitake mushrooms and threw those in too  w/ thinly sliced onion & cilantro : ) PeRfECt