Vietnamese Pho Soup

Put the eggs and water in a small saucepan and cook for exactly 7 minutes. Then take it out, let it cool down a bit and remove the skin. While the eggs are cooling, mix the soy sauce with the maple syrup and balsamic vinegar. Place the cooled eggs in a tall, narrow container (for example a mason jar) and add the liquid. The eggs should be completely covered in the sweet and sour soy sauce. To achieve this, it makes sense to place a small but heavy vessel on top to press the eggs down. This way, store the eggs in the refrigerator overnight.

For the broth, peel the apple and ginger and cut into small pieces. Also cut the pineapple into pieces. Lightly press the lemongrass and cut in half lengthways. Put the water, soy sauce, star anise, shiitake mushrooms, lemongrass, apple, pineapple and ginger in a large saucepan. Peel the garlic and add it too. Let everything simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half.

In the meantime, quarter the mushrooms and remove two more cloves of garlic from the skin and chop them finely. Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the mushrooms and garlic in it. Then reduce the heat a little and gradually add the spinach leaves and let them collapse. Then add the fish sauce and fry briefly.

In a small saucepan, fry a peeled and finely diced onion, 3 peeled and finely chopped garlic cloves and a finely chopped chilli in a little olive oil. Deglaze with soy sauce and maple syrup and simmer for a few minutes.

Remove the eggs from the refrigerator and cut them in half lengthways. Cook the udon noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Pass the reduced broth through a sieve. Remove the shiitake mushrooms from the sieve as much as possible and add them back to the broth. Put a tablespoon of the chili sauce in a deep plate or an Asian soup bowl (see picture). Top with some udon noodles and some of the vegetable garnish. Top up with the broth and place the egg halves in the broth. Good Appetite!