Vegan Pho for One with Black Trumpet Mushrooms (Trompettes de la Mort)

I ate pho in Hanoi on a backpacking trip in 2016, and it has stayed with me ever since. A clear, fragrant broth, a pile of noodles, a handful of greens and a chilli sauce on the side. Nothing fussy, and nothing missing.

This vegan pho is the cupboard version, cooked for one at Casa Adora as a main meal. There is no chicken and no beef bone in sight. The depth comes from dried black trumpet mushrooms (trompettes de la mort), a charred onion and a little mashed fermented black bean, with tofu and black beans to make it a proper dinner. I have already made a beef pho broth, a whole-bird chicken pho and a quick chicken pho for one. This is the one with no meat in it at all, and when I tasted it, it tasted like Hanoi.

Why This Vegan Pho Works Without the Meat

A vegetable pho lives or dies on its broth. Plain vegetables give you a sweet, thin liquid, so this one is built to be dark and savoury instead.

The black trumpet mushrooms do most of the work. Soaked and simmered, they give a smoky, almost meaty depth, and their soaking liquid goes into the pot too (strained, because dried mushrooms bring grit with them). The onion is charred cut-side down in a dry pan until black, which is the old Hanoi trick for sweetness and colour. A half teaspoon of mashed fermented black bean adds salt and savour, and the broth is made with my own vegetable stock rather than water, which means the flavour is already there before the spices go in.

The tofu is fried first, until golden, then simmered in the broth so it soaks up the flavour. A small waxy potato and a couple of tablespoons of black beans turn a noodle soup into a main meal.

Vegan Pho for One: Ingredients

Serves 1. About 1 hour, including the soak.

• 10g dried black trumpet mushrooms (trompettes de la mort)
• 1 small onion, halved
• 1 carrot, cut into chunks
• 1 leek: green tops for the broth, white part sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 slices of ginger
• 1 star anise, ½ cinnamon stick and 2 cloves
• ½ tsp fermented black beans, mashed
• About 800ml homemade vegetable stock, plus the strained mushroom soaking liquid
• 100–150g firm tofu
• 1 small waxy potato (about 100g), cut into small chunks
• A handful of shredded cabbage
• 2 tbsp organic black beans, rinsed
• A small handful each of spinach and frozen peas
• 75g plain buckwheat soba noodles
• Soy sauce, tamarind paste and fermented hot sauce, to taste
• Spring onion, fresh coriander and a lime wedge or two, to finish
• Sourdough, toasted and rubbed with a cut garlic clove, to serve

How to Make Vegan Pho at Home

1. Soak. Cover the black trumpet mushrooms with 200ml hot water and leave for 20 minutes. Lift them out and strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve to catch the grit.
2. Fry the tofu. Fry it in a hot pan until golden on all sides, then set it aside.
3. Char the onion. Put the halves cut-side down in a dry pan over a high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, until blackened.
4. Build the broth. Put the onion, carrot, leek tops, garlic, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, mushrooms, mashed fermented black beans, strained soaking liquid and vegetable stock in a pot. Simmer gently for 40 minutes. Add the potato for the last 15 minutes. Fish out the star anise, cinnamon and cloves before you eat.
5. Add the tofu and cabbage. Put the fried tofu, the shredded cabbage and the sliced white of the leek into the broth and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Add the beans, peas and spinach. For the last 5 minutes of that simmer, stir in the black beans, peas and spinach.
7. Cook the soba in the broth. Switch the heat off, drop in the soba and leave it in the hot broth while you lay the table. It only takes a few minutes.
8. Season and finish. Taste, then add soy sauce, a little tamarind paste (a small amount at a time) and as much fermented hot sauce as you like. Ladle into a bowl, top with sliced spring onion and coriander, and squeeze over some lime. Serve with the garlic-rubbed sourdough on the side, for dunking.

Notes on This Vegetable Pho

Season at the end. The fermented black beans, soy and hot sauce all carry salt, so wait until the broth has finished before you decide what it needs.

The hot sauce matters. I used my own fermented red chilli hot sauce. It gives the bowl a lovely background heat without drowning the mushrooms.

Keep the bread on the side. A slice under the soup goes soggy and clouds the broth. Toasted, rubbed with garlic and served alongside, it does the job better.

Check the soba and the hot sauce. Mine was plain buckwheat noodles with no fish sauce. This vegan pho stays vegan as long as the noodles, stock and hot sauce are free of animal products, so check your labels. My own Ember Solar has a spoonful of honey in it, so for a fully vegan bowl use a honey-free hot sauce or leave the honey out of the batch.

It was clear, savoury and quietly smoky, with that background heat from the sauce. If you like the idea but want the meat version, the three posts linked at the top cover beef, a whole chicken and a leftover leg.

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This vegan pho is part of my Soup Recipes hub and my Veggie & Vegan Recipes collection.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef