Vietnamese Star Anise Gravy

This borrows its aromatics from pho broth rather than from any Vietnamese gravy tradition, and it is worth saying that up front. Charring the onion and ginger over a flame, then toasting the whole spices, gives a stock a smoky depth you cannot get any other way. Kept thin and glossy it is superb over rare beef, noodles or a plate of roast potatoes if you are feeling unorthodox.

Ingredients

Makes about 450ml, enough for four

• 1 onion, halved, skin on
• 40g (1½oz) fresh ginger, halved lengthways, skin on
• 3 star anise
• 1 small cinnamon stick or piece of cassia bark
• 3 cloves
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 3 green cardamom pods, bruised
• 600ml (1 pint) good beef stock the clearer and better it is, the better this will be
• 2 tbsp fish sauce nuoc mam. Any Vietnamese or Thai brand is fine
• 2 tsp yellow rock sugar sold in lumps in Asian supermarkets. Soft light brown sugar works
• 1½ tsp cornflour slaked in 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 lime, juice of half, the rest cut into wedges
• 1 small handful coriander and Thai basil leaves, torn
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced optional

Kit

• Dry frying pan or gas hob
• Saucepan
• Fine sieve
• Small bowl

Method

1. Char the onion and ginger cut side down. Either hold them over a gas flame with tongs for four or five minutes, or press them into a dry hot frying pan until blackened in patches and smelling sweet and smoky. This is the step that gives the sauce its backbone, so let them really blacken rather than just colour.

2. In the same dry pan over a medium heat, toast the star anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds and cardamom for about ninety seconds, shaking the pan, until fragrant. Take them off before they smoke.

3. Put the charred onion and ginger and the toasted spices into a saucepan with the beef stock. Bring to a bare simmer.

4. Simmer very gently, uncovered, for thirty minutes. Do not let it boil hard, because a rolling boil clouds the stock and makes the spices turn bitter. It should reduce by about a quarter.

5. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pan, pressing nothing through. You want it clear. Discard the aromatics.

6. Add the fish sauce and rock sugar and warm gently until the sugar dissolves. Taste. It should be deeply savoury with the anise sitting behind rather than in front.

7. Bring it to a simmer, stir the cornflour slurry and pour it in while stirring. Cook for one minute until it turns glossy and just thick enough to coat a spoon. This is meant to stay light, not to become a proper thick gravy.

8. Off the heat, add the lime juice. Serve poured over thinly sliced rare beef or noodles, with the herbs, chilli and lime wedges on top so people can adjust their own bowl.

Tips worth knowing

• Char, do not just brown. Proper black patches on the onion and ginger are what make this taste like pho rather than like beef stock with spices in it.
• Three star anise in 600ml is about the limit. Star anise is very assertive and a fourth will steamroller everything else in the pan.
• Keep it at a bare simmer throughout. A hard boil turns whole spices bitter and makes a clear stock cloudy, and neither can be undone.
• Fish sauce brands vary a lot in salt. Add one tablespoon, taste, then add the rest, and season with salt only after that.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps four days in the fridge. It will set to a jelly if your stock was gelatinous, which is a good sign. Reheat gently and add fresh lime and herbs each time, since both fade quickly. Freezes for three months before the cornflour goes in.

Questions people ask