Phomen! (Or: What Happens When You Fail at Pho)

On Saturday YC and I attempted our first Cooking Experiment!
We decided to try and whip up some pho, mostly because I'd be craving pho for days.

While it turned out very yummy, as you can see from the picture below it did not really turn into pho.
We ruled it somewhere between ramen and pho, so phomen!

It looks yummy though, right?

For our pho adventure we sort of followed a recipe I found on Pinterest. I'm not very good at actually following recipes, which may have been part of our problem. That and my lack of belief in YC's noodle choice. I picked the one above, which is clearly wrong. Guess next time I listen to YC.

Here is the recipe is you'd like to try actually following it.

We used straw mushrooms instead of shiitake mushrooms. We also refused to add bean sprouts, jalapenos, or cilantro, because we're both picky. We also added tofu. I love tofu.

I also refused to actually measure anything. Partially because I don't really own measuring instruments, and partially because I am too lazy to measure things. I'd rather guesstimate.

The large mess of ingredients.

As usual, YC did most of the work. I did cut up some stuff and I sauteed. Even I can handle stirring stuff on some heat.

I also threw the noodles in some boiling water. I get all the super hard jobs, obviously.

YC did the harder stuff, such as cutting onions and grating ginger. Actually he did the whole soup base, I had nothing to do with that.

YC hard at work.

YC's handy work, not mine.

We also added garlic both to the soup base and to the sauteed parts, because there is no such thing as too much garlic.

My handy work. Mushrooms and tofu!

See? I helped. I cut up that garlic SO good!

Pretty early on we realized our noodle soup didn't look much like pho. It didn't quite look like ramen either though. Somewhere between the two soups. Hence the moniker of phomen.

Distinctly un-pho-like.

Irregardless of pho goals, the noodle soup tasted awesome. We added some lime and chili garlic sauce to taste. I tend to use a ton of lime.

It was very yummy and hit the spot, especially on a cold day.

YC approves.

All in all, I recommend the recipe. I even suggest our tweaks, they resulted in a lot of yumminess.

Pho Cooking = Failure

Phomen Cooking = Success!

This is what happens when you let YC be in charge of the camera.

Do you think our phomen looks yummy? Going to try it yourself? Have you successfully made pho? Any pointers for our next try, other than "use the right noodles duh"?

-Alisa