Pho Bo: hearty beef soup with chickpeas.

Ingredients:

For 2 mains or 4 starters.

100 g          dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in water         
2                 onions                  
4 cm           ginger
1 l                strong beef 
½                cinnamon stick
1                  star anise
1  tbsp         fish sauce
100 g           rice noodles
1 bunch       spring onions
80 g            mung bean sprouts
160 g           beef tenderloin
3 sprigs       coriander
1                  organic lime
¼ tbsp        chilli flakes
60 g            cashews

Preparation:

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight in cold water. Rinse the chickpeas in a sieve under cold running water, transfer to a pan of fresh water, cover and cook gently for approx. 1 hr. until soft. Drain the chickpeas.
2. In the meantime, peel and quarter the onions, and peel and slice the ginger for the stock. Combine both with the stock, cinnamon and star anise and simmer gently for 30 mins. Pour the stock through a sieve, reheat in the pan and season with the fish sauce.
3. Cook the rice noodles following the instructions on the packet. Cut the spring onions into rings, clean the mung bean sprouts and cut the beef into wafer-thin slices.
4. Transfer all the prepared ingredients onto large soup plates, pour in the hot stock, tear the coriander leaves from the stems and garnish with lime wedges, chilli flakes and cashews. 

Preparation time: approx. 13 hrs. 10 mins. 
Cooking time: approx. 35 mins.