Vietnamese Beef and Watercress Soup with Lime and Basil

This is a lighter, faster take on a Vietnamese noodle soup tradition — a fragrant broth infused with star anise, cinnamon, and ginger, poured hot directly over raw beef slices so it gently cooks right in the bowl. It keeps the beef tender and the whole process simple for a weeknight.

Watercress and thin beef both carry iron, and we lean into that here with a generous pile of lime wedges meant to be squeezed in right before eating — that fresh vitamin C helps your body make better use of the iron from the beef and greens. Fresh basil and bean sprouts finish the bowl with crunch and fragrance.

Slice the beef as thin as you can manage; it makes all the difference in how quickly and evenly it cooks in the hot broth. This one's built to be slurped, so keep chopsticks and a spoon handy.