Stir-fried Rice Noodle with Beef and Onion-Hủ Tiếu Xào Thịt Bò và Hành Tây

Stir-fried Beef with onion is a main dish by itself. It can be served with rice and other side dishes in daily meals or making a topping for  a rice vermicelli salad.  Last but not least with a french baguette and a fried egg for breakfast.
Add onion in the last few minutes or earlier depending on you want onion crunchy or soft.  Yellow or white onion can be used.  Try to cook onion just long enough for onion sweeten  up and still crunchy but if you like soft onion, add it earlier.
Either soy sauce or fish sauce can be used alone or combine. Beef is sliced very thinly ans seared quickly so any kind of beef can be used except shank and brisket.  Everything need to be prepped and ready.
There are different kinds of Rice noodle but here at local store we only have two: one uses for Pad Thai which is light tougher and need to cook longer and other kind using here is called Bạ́nh Phở Tươi (Fresh Rice Stick Noodle).  It is lightly different than real Hủ Tiếu in Vietnam.  It can be overcooked and become a sticky mess in no time so pay attention to stop cooking in time.  Angle hair noodles can be used too.
Make: 4 servings
1.5 lb beef, thinly sliced again the grain
1 large or medium yellow onion, cut in 1/4 inch wedges
2 Tbs finely minced garlic
2 Tbs finely minced shallot
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs fish sauce
4 Tbs regular soy sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp corn starch
2 green onion, cut into 2 inches length
2-4 Tbs lime juice
1/4 cup peanut, coarsely crushed (optional)
2 Tbs peanut or vegetable oil
1 lb fresh rice noodle (banh pho)
2 medium carrot, thinly sliced

1. Mix fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar in a bowl.  Marinade beef with 1/2 minced garlic & shallot, 1/2 fish sauce mixture, 1 Tbs oil, , 1 tsp ground pepper, and corn starch.  Set aside about 15 minutes.
2. Prep veggies: peel, cut, chop onion, garlic, shallot, green onion, carrot. 
3. Boiling 1 quart water in a large pot. Have a colander ready in the sink.  Add noodles in boiling water, make sure they submersed in the water.  Immediately remove the pot from the heat. Drain and keep tossing noodles a few times. No need to rinse with cold water.  The noodle will continue to cook in the heat. A few minutes later when the steam subsides, return noodle to the empty pot.  Microwave julienned carrot or blanching them in boiling water briefly,  Drain well and add carrot to the same pot with noodle.
4. Heating 1 Tbs remaining oil  in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add garlic, shallot and stir until fragrant, add  remaining fish sauce mixture. Bring it to a boil, add 1 Tbs of lime juice.  Mix cooked sauce with noodle and carrot.
5.  Return the skillet back to the stove, add beef and stir a few minutes occasionally. When the beef is cooked halfway (still has some pink color), add onion, and white part of green onion.  Continue stirring until onion gets wild and beef cooked through.  Stir in remaining green onion and squeeze lime juice in.  Turn off the heat, stir in noodle mixture.   Taste and adjust seasoning if needed to suit your taste.
6. Transfer to a serving platter or individual plates and sprinkle crushed peanut (optional).  Extra soy sauce, lime wedges, hot pepper on the side.