Low Carb Vietnamese Pho Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

Homemade Broth
4 cups good quality chicken broth (or homemade)
1 star anise (or substitute 1/4 t. anise seeds, fennel seeds, or caraway seeds for a similar flavor)
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Pho soup
6 ounces sirloin steaks (Slice very thin across the grain)
10 medium frozen shrimp (fresh is good, too)
1/4 medium white onion (thinly sliced)
4 leaves bok choy (optional)
1 green onion (sliced into little rounds)
1/4 1/4 cup basil (2 fresh sprigs) or 1/4 cup mint leaf (2 fresh sprigs)
1 cup bean sprouts
1 small lime (to squeeze over soup)

Preparation

Put all of the broth ingredients into a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med/low and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Pour broth through a strainer and discard the solids. Return the strained broth to the saucepan.
Bring the the broth to another boil. Add white onion and bok choy and cook just until the bok choy is limp (2 minutes). You can then add the steak strips and the shrimp to the boiling broth. Cooking very briefly, just until the steak is med/rare and shrimp is heated or cooked. Turn off heat. Immediately add the sliced green onions.
Pour into two large soup bowls. Allow everyone to add their own fresh bean sprouts and cilantro (or basil or mint) leaves to taste. Cut lime in quarters and squeeze over each bowl to taste. You can also add a little red chili sauce (from the asian food isle) if you like.
You can use this same basic recipe, but substitute thinly sliced chicken or pork instead of the beef (just make sure they are cooked through). If you don't mind upping the carbs, add some cooked rice noodles as well.