Courters' Kitchen: Flavors of Vietnamese soup get rolled into wrap [video]

The Phorrito is an amazing dish that combines the rich, fresh flavors of Pho (pronounced fuh), the Vietnamese soup made with beef, rice noodles, herbs and bean sprouts, into a wrap.
The Phorrito is an amazing dish that combines the rich, fresh flavors of Pho (pronounced fuh), the Vietnamese soup made with beef, rice noodles, herbs and bean sprouts, into a wrap.

KELLEY SAYS: You never know what you might find scouring the internet for recipes. I stumbled across a cooking channel online the other day, and the chef was making something she'd created called a Phorrito. It is just what it sound like: Pho served in a wrap.

BARRY SAYS: It's a big fist full of heaven is what it is. I mean, Pho by itself is pretty amazing stuff.

KELLEY: If you've never had it, it's a Vietnamese soup made with beef or chicken, cinnamon, star anise, cardamon, coriander and fennel that is slow-cooked for hours and then combined with fresh Thai basil, cilantro, lime and bean sprouts.

BARRY: It's worth cooking just for the way it makes your house smell.

KELLEY: This dish takes all of that and then thickens the broth so that it works in the wrap. This was really good.

BARRY: Amazing, actually.

Phorrito

Start with:

2 whole cinnamon sticks

6 star anise

6 green cardamon pods

1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds

1 teaspoon whole dried fennel

Roast until fragrant in a frying pan.

Then prepare:

1 whole white onion, halved

1 good-size ginger, halved

I toasted both over an open flame on the gas stove for about one minute each.

For the roaster:

1 flank steak

6 Kaffir lime leaves

Sprinkling of white pepper

4 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth

Place everything (the fragrant seasonings, onion, ginger and all of the roasting ingredients) in a roasting pan. Cover tightly in foil and cook in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours.

Assemble:

Large white flour wraps

Rice noodles (boil until done)

Bean sprouts

Thai basil

Cilantro

Fresh mint

Juice of 1 lime

4 green onions tops, about 3 inches long

Hoisin sauce

Sriracha

4 teaspoons cornstarch

Water

Strain broth from the roasting pan. (I put some aside for a later dish.) Put about 4 cups of broth into a sauce pan, and bring to a boil over high heat. Mix cornstarch and cold water, slowly adding mixture to broth to thicken it. Cut roasted meat into cubes. Into wrap, place meat, rice noodles, bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, mint, lime juice and onion tops, then pour on hoisin sauce and sriracha to taste. Fold the wrap in from each side, and then roll into a Phorrito.

Contact Barry and Kelley Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.

Upcoming Events