Veggie Pot Surprise Soup with Star Anise

Veggie Pot Surprise Soup with Star Anise!

This is not going to be a recipe as usual.........No,  I have plenty of soup recipes on my blog!  THIS IS A TIP!!!!!!!!!!!!  A tip of the day! 

I have fallen in love with Asian food over the past 7 years.  I have made it a point to learn how to recreate many dishes I have really enjoyed over the years.  One soup I love is PHO....It is a Vietnamese soup....pronounced like FU as in our naughty American four letter word begins!  Most Americans pronounce this incorrectly!  Myself was included on this for a long time, I thought it would sound like PHO sounds in English,,(FO)....but, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!  We have a close Taiwanese friend that has set us straight on all of this..., TRUST ME!

I decided to start to experiment with one of the KEY ingredients in PHO, the STAR ANISE!  The full bodied, woody star of flavor!  I buy them at my local grocery where they sell Authentic, Mexican spices.  They will be in a small bag.  This is the KEY to a successful PHO..which has such a special and stimulating flavor burst that takes soup as we all know it to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!!!!!!  I chose to make the soup in the picture, which is my "diet veggie soup"...but, I kicked it up with 2 Star Anise pieces and I am not kidding,,can you say,,"A WHOLE NEW WORLD, Ariel?"  lol...LOVE IT! 

I will NEVER be the same since I met up with PHO and Star Anise!  MY SECRET to amazing soup......all kinds...the STAR ANISE is the STAR of all SOUPS!

Give it a try and put this special spice into your soup next time you make it!  I know you think it will be a strong flavor and it is the opposite!............IT IS SO AMAZING !  It is a secret that you must unfold! :)

ENJOY!