Many years ago I had the pleasure of eating a soup from a kiosk in a Calgary, Alberta food court that was labelled as “Tonkinese Soup”. It wasn’t Pho soup, but instead had a mixture of broth, noodles, fresh broccoli and mushrooms, meat and other delicious ingredients. I can’t remember exactly what the gentleman who ran the place put in it, but the recipe below comes close to it in my opinion.

I am sure it was inspired by Vietnamese noodle soups, but the flavour is different and it has a wonderful crunchy, fresh texture all of it’s own. I love Pho soup, but to do Pho right, you need to have a fresh supply of cilantro, Asian basil, and bean sprouts. This soup is far more easily made from what’s available in Western grocery stores and yet it has a decidedly Asian flavour. You will need bag of Star anise pods, but then you won’t be making Pho without those either.

The key to this recipe is to give the veggies a little bit of cooking (Often called “Blanching”–like 2 minutes or less) or otherwise you’ll wind up with limp, soft vegetables (Some people might like soft vegetables, but I don’t) I have even gone so far as to put the veggies raw into my bowl and simply ladle broth over them to steep a tiny bit–It tasted great and the nutrients weren’t cooked out.

The salt might seem a lot, but like Pho, the noodles take a large part of the saltiness out and leave the dish very balanced in flavour.

Also, I like to add Sriracha to mine as it adds a whole new dimension of flavour, but it tastes great even without. You can also add chili oil if you like heat or potentially some Vietnamese sate sauce.

Anyway, give this one a shot. You won’t be disappointed.