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I have accumulated a number of different spice mixtures for phở bò, the Việtnamese soup, and I seem to be accumulating more. So far I have:
Por Kwan makes a number of pastes that are not easy to distinguish. The first one I found was this:
On 30 December 2023 I tried another kind of paste, from the same maker:
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It's not as spicy as the first, but also tastes good. The recipe is the same.
There's also a third paste that I have found:
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If you don't speak Việtnamese, it's easy to confuse it with one of the other two. In fact, it's very different and not suited to this dish. I'm still trying to find out what to make with it.
Por Kwan is a Thai company. I have tried things like their Laksa and found it not very plausible. My guess is that their phở pastes are also not very authentic, but I'm happy with the results.
I first tried writing things down on 25 March 2021, and then again on 3 March 2022.
On 3 March I used 40 g of paste for 360 g water, but it didn't seem to be enough. On 18 March I used 40 g in 300 g water, and that seemed right both for concentration and quantity.
These are dry cubes, and definitely from Việt Nam:
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They're rather irritating in that each cube is designed for 500 ml of broth, but in fact they're also rather tasteless, so I reduce to 400 ml. Less volume than that makes the broth too salty. And sadly they're rather boring, so I probably won't buy any more.
These are “instant” phở that I bought at Fresh Land Food in Manifold Heights on 3 July 2025. Basically, follow the instructions, though the ingredients in the list below can improve it
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| quantity | ingredient | step | ||
| 60 g | thin dry rice noodles | 1 | ||
| 60 g | raw beef | 2 | ||
| 40 g | phở paste | 3 | ||
| 300 g | water | 3 | ||
| 30 g | choi sam leaves | 3 | ||
| 60 g | tauge | 3 | ||
| 30 g | spring onions, cut into 1-2 cm segments | 4 | ||
| sliced red onion | 4 | |||
| Thai basil | 4 | |||
Soften the noodles. The time can vary wildly; see noodle cooking times. Drain.
Cut the beef into thin slices and place on the noodles:
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Mix paste with water and bring to the boil. Cut choi sam and steep in the broth for 5 to 10 minutes.
Add tauge and bring back to the boil. Pour over noodles.
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Add onions and basil and serve.
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