Cooking good Asian food

[raeoflyte]

There is a pho restaurant by us that has the best veggie, tofu, and fried rice, I could eat there every single day. But their pho isn't actually that good according to Dh which is what he and ds like.

I want to replicate the dish at home. It seems super easy, fresh simple ingredients. Everyone I talked to said it must be the peanut oil and slow sauteed onions that give it such good flavor. I went ahead and tried it tonight. It turned out ok, but it was pretty bland.

I know if I google it I'll get a thousand recipes, and get overwhelmed. So what seasonings should I try next time?

[wvugurl26]

I have no idea what ones to try. My landlord is from Vietnam. He doesn't make pho though. They go out for that. He makes a lot of other authentic stuff though.

[Deleted]

When I'm doing that I look up say 10-14 recipes that get good reviews. I write down the ingredients for all of them, one list of ingredients common to most/all of the recipes, one list with any 'novel' ingredients. I write the ranges of measurement next to the ingredients (ie. one recipe says 1/4 cup, one says 1/2 cup)... Then I start experimenting...

[Deleted]

Not to freak you out but a ton of asian restaurants use corn syrup and MSG. If that's the flavor you are trying to replicate it's pretty difficult.

Good pho requires awesome broth - cooking from bones and scraps and for a long time. Lots of skimming.  A couple of days.

[Deleted]

www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/dining/27mini.html?_r=0

[saveinla]

Did you add ginger ,  fish sauce & roast the spices before adding them to the broth?

[raeoflyte]

I'm not actually trying to make pho. I'll leave that to Dh.

I devour the veggie and tofu dish like I haven't eaten for weeks.

I would cry if its corn syrup that makes that taste so good. But I have a sugar problem so I wouldn't be surprised either.

That's a good process oped- leaves it much more open to experimentation.

[siralynn]

I've never tried making pho, but one of my Vietnamese coworkers said that making the broth properly requires boiling beef bones for days.

A quick Google search suggests that cinnamon, cardamon, and star anise are also key flavors in pho broth.

ETA: Nevermind - misunderstood your original question.

[raeoflyte]

Dh will probably like the info. He prefers vegetarian pho, and even if its cheaters pho he will like having a few more spices to try.

[saveinla]

I like Ming Tsai's recipes - here's one for fried rice - www.mingspantry.com/tradmanfried.html

[Deleted]

I'm a fan of Steamy Kitchen - it has pretty accessible Asian recipes, especially if you live in an area without a lot of Asian markets.  Like using canned pillsbury dough to make buns for Pork Belly Buns.

www.steamykitchen.com/22252-pork-belly-buns-recipe.html