[redforever]

you can buy frozen kaffir lime leaves most times at T & T, sometimes fresh as well. Spiceland carries dried kaffir lime leaves.

As someone else mentioned, you can substitute the zest of lime, never quite the same, but you can do that.


Pho soup base. chicken pho or beef pho? If you do it the old fashioned way, get either chicken bones, or beef marrow bones, bake in a hot oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Browning your bones first intensifies the flavor of your stock. Remove, put in soup stock pot, cover with water and then add your spices and slowly simmer for a couple of hours, strain, it is ready for use.

Here is an excellent pho base for chicken pho, the easy way.

Put 8 to 10 cups good quality canned chicken broth in a large Dutch oven or stock pot. Add 3 Tbsp fish sauce, 2 tsp brown sugar, 6 whole cloves, 4 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 inches long and broken in pieces, 1 piece of fresh ginger, 3 inches long and cut in half, 2 cloves garlic, halved (optional).

Bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Strain and discard the solids. Your pho base is now ready to add your other ingredients.

Edit 1: I should have said, simmer the pho base uncovered. You are trying to reduce the chicken broth a bit and infuse it with the taste of the spices that are added.

Edit 2: Here is the rest of my recipe if you are interested in how I do my chicken pho.

While your stock is simmering, you can prepare the rest of your ingredients. Peel 1 medium onion and cut in half. In a non stick frying pan, at medium or medium low heat, slowly brown the 2 pieces of onion. The color should be a deep golden brown, but not black as in charred. Turn over and brown the other side of the onion halves. Now remove from pan and cool the browned onion halves. Put a bit of the broth that you are simmering in the frying pan, swirl to remove the onion flavor, add back to broth. When the onion is cooled, slice thinly, vertically (the long way)

You will also need 3 cups shredded cooked dark meat chicken (thighs), 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint, 1/3 cup finely sliced green onions, 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh Thai basil (substitute regular basil if you can't find the Thai variety), 2 cups bean sprouts, 1/4 cup fresh cilantro sprigs (the stem end), 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and thinly sliced, 4 ounces uncooked wide rice stick noodles (banh pho), hoisin sauce (optional), sriracha (hot chile sauce - optional)

To cook the noodles, I usually just put in a large bowl and cover with boiling water and then let them soak. If the water cools too quickly, just put in the microwave and reheat. They take around 15 minutes this way.

When your stock is finished simmering, strain and discard the spices. To the stock, add the shredded chicken, the thinly sliced cooked onion, the thinly sliced green onions, the bean srpouts, all of the cilantro sprigs, all of the basil, half of the sliced jalapenos, half of the cilantro leaves, and half of the chopped mint. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.

Strain the noodles. Place about 1/2 cup cooked noodles in your soup bowl. Ladle over around 1 1/2 cups of the hot boiling broth mixture. Sprinkle a bit of the reserved cilantro leaves, mint leaves and jalapeno over the top. Serve with a wedge of lime on the side. To eat, you can squeeze a bit of lime juice in the soup and if desired stir in a bit of hoisin sauce and sriracha sauce.

Edit 3: Here is what I usually do for the dark chicken meat that is required. I use around 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I open them the long way, remove any excess fat. In a non stick fry pan, on medium heat, I brown them until golden on both sides. Then I add the cooked thighs in their whole state to the broth that you are simmering. I add them during the last 15 minutes of simmering. When the broth is done, remove the chicken thighs, cool and coarsely shred.