By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Dover and Westwood Council’s on Aging (COA) joined together once again at Powisset Farm to join Chef Thi in learning how to make warm, flavorful, satisfying pho. This Vietnamese culinary favorite is typically made with broth, noodles, herbs and a protein.
Within this class, Chef Thi walked COA members through creating a classic chicken pho and vegetable fresh rolls with a peanut dipping sauce. They started off by making the stock for the pho since it had to cook for an hour before serving. Chef Thi explained that the stock of any pho is truly the king of the dish.
For this stock, attendees put in some boiled chicken, a cheesecloth full of dry roasted spices, dry roasted onion, dry roasted ginger, sugar, salt and fish sauce. Since they were just creating the stock, there was no need to peel either the onion nor the ginger. Additionally, by dry roasting these ingredients, it allowed the stock to have a more smoky flavor to it.
As the pho stock continued to cook, COA members then worked on their vegetable fresh rolls. For this, they cooked some rice noodles and thinly sliced cucumbers, bell peppers and carrots. They additionally could put some fresh mint and mixed greens into their rolls if they wanted to.
From there they worked on creating the peanut dipping sauce which included peanut butter, hoisin sauce, water and lime juice. For this kind of sauce, Chef Thi explained that it could be used in a variety of ways like a condiment, salad dressing, dipping sauce and more. Depending on how one is using the sauce will determine the consistency one desires.
Once all the veggies were chopped and the sauce was mixed together, it was time to start assembling the rolls. Chef Thi provided a brief demonstration before having COA members try it out themselves. Everyone had a multitude of options to choose from when creating their very own rolls.
After the vegetable fresh rolls were assembled, COA members started shredding the chicken from the stock and cutting up some cilantro. All throughout the class, Chef Thi made sure to keep an eye out on everyone, offering help and guidance with each step of the process. She additionally offered up some intriguing kitchen/cooking tips and tricks that everyone said they would definitely have to try out at home.
One cooking tip she shared went on to certainly shock all of those in attendance. Chef Thi explained that cilantro stems hold the most flavor and thus they cut some of them up to add to their Pho.
Upon all the ingredients being prepped, Chef Thi set up an assembly line for those to create their pho. COA members would grab a bowl, cook their Pho noodles for thirty seconds, add a ladle or two of the pho stock on top of the noodles and finish up by adding their garnishes. Laid out for attendees was the cilantro stems and leaves, shredded chicken, lime wedges, onion, hoisin sauce and a variety of hot sauces.
With this, it was time for everyone to dig into their creations. Not only did the kitchen smell absolutely delicious but also the pho and vegetable fresh rolls tasted utterly phenomenal. One could hear a pin drop as COA members ate their creations for they were just that good. Once everyone had finished eating, they each received a copy of these recipes to try it out for themselves at home. It can be said with ease that both COA’s are eager to do more of these types of classes in the future.
