We’ve been weirdly obsessed with pho for quite a while. I’m not really sure where this obsession came from seeing as how we’ve never actually had pho in a restaurant (you know, meat and what not), but I would imagine we became captivated by it after watching some cooking show or another. So when some friends invited us to a Vietnamese restaurant last week which has some vegetarian options, we were cautiously optimistic about the possibility of trying pho for the first time.

Indeed they had pho on the menu, and when we asked the waitress if they could do a vegetarian version, it was clear that she had been asked that question before. Alas, despite the obvious demand, the answer was no, they only made a meaty version. Undeterred, we decided to make vegan pho at home. It’s not really that hard, you just need to make a killer vegetable stock with tons of veggies and a few spices, and then you have a multitude of options for the garnishes.

Our supermarkets here offer packages of mixed veggies for making stock and the combinations vary, but what’s important in the recipe is to pack the broth full of as many vegetable as you can to give it maximum flavour. Take my stock recipe as just a guideline, this is what my veggie stock package included, but you can use the combination of vegetable that you like and/or have on hand, just be sure to use LOTS.