Category: Home economics

Jackfruit is in season again. This is one of our favorite fruits. We enjoy having an ethnic grocery store in the neighborhood to have access to tropical fruits and vegetables that are seldom available or overly priced in the local stores. Preparing the jackfruit is such a labor intensive process. You need to oil up your hands and your knife to counter the latex of the fruit. This delicious fruit is worth all that trouble.

Connor helps us to mend the bed skirt with the sewing machine.

Connor enjoys cooking. He learns how to operate the instant pot, our favorite kitchen appliance, and he is able to make beef pho from scratch. Delicious and healthy! What not to love? Let me share our recipe:

 

Ingredients (4 servings):

1 lb angus beef steak

32 oz low sodium organic beef broth (we prefer the flavorful Pacific brand)

1 star anise

1 small cinnamon stick

1 cardamon

dried pho noodles

bean sprouts

bok choy or napa cabbage

cilantro

scallions

fried crispy shallots

sriracha hot chili sauce

 

Instructions:

1. Trim the fat off the steak and put it in the instant pot. Pour in the beef broth. Add star anise, cinnamon stick and cardamon. Pressure cook at high pressure for 30 minutes to an hour. Do a quick release when it is ready.
2. While the beef is cooking, set a pot of water to boil and cook pho noodles according to package instructions. Once soft, drain, rinse and set aside.
3. Wash the vegetables. Chop up the bok choy. Blanche the bean sprouts and bok choy.
4. When the beef is ready, drain and shred the meat.
5. Serve the pho noodles in a bowl. Place the meat and vegetables on the noodles. Ladle the soup and garnish with cilantro, scallions and fried crispy shallots. Serve with chili sauce.