A beautiful and tasty meal from Jenna Osborne, who has been assisting us with meal prepping for a few of our FODMAP clients. Jenna is a massive foodie with a profound respect for the human body. She understands everyone’s needs are unique, but ultimately knows that food needs to taste great too!

This meal is great for those who are low carb, ketogenic, paleo (just omit rice noodles) or anyone following a FODMAP diet.
Ingredients:
Stock
2 litres beef stock (or chicken, in a pinch)
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, cut into chunks
2 full star anise
6 whole cloves
12 whole black peppercorns
1 stick of cinnamon, snapped in half
1 tbsp fish sauce
3-4 portions of rice noodles – medium width
Topping

500g beef, thinly sliced (a cheap cut works, such as chuck or rump)
Bean sprouts, washed
Bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Bunch fresh mint, roughly chopped
1-2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1-2 bird’s eye chillies, thinly sliced
Optional garnishes

Deep fried shallots
Thai basil
Sriracha
More fish sauce
Lime juice
Method:

  • Place the stock in a large pot, and bring to the boil. Once you have a rolling boil, throw in the cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, ginger, star anise, and fish sauce. Reduce heat to simmer, and leave to infuse for about 20-30 mins.
  • While the stock simmers, slice your meat and veges. The meat should be sliced as thinly as possible as it will only be cooked by the boiling stock. In order to achieve this, you can partially freeze the meat to make it easier to cut.
  • Make sure you run your knife through the mint and coriander once only – otherwise you’ll bruise the herbs.
  • Boil another pot of water with a little salt. When you’ve got a rolling boil, drop in your rice noodles. When al dente, drain, and arrange in the bottom of bowls. Alternately, use zucchini or carrot noodles.
  • Once the noodles are in the bowls, lay the raw beef slices over the top in a single layer.
  • Turn the heat off the stock, and ladle over the beef until the liquid covers the noodles. The stock will cook the beef.
  • Now, add the toppings to your taste. My personal preference is a LOT of herbs. I also like to squeeze 1/2 a lime over the top for some added zing. You could add sriracha, or more fish sauce too.