It's been a few months since my last post, and we're now in the middle of winter. With the mild winter this year, I thought I wouldn't get to cook the soups I usually make during the winter months. But the temperature finally dropped enough for me to crave hot soup.
Beef noodle soup 牛肉麵 [Mandarin: niu rou mian / Taiwanese: gu ba mi] was arguably my favorite food growing up, and, as such, it has a special place in my heart. I've tried making this without vegetables and with vegetables, and I've found I like the version with vegetables more. The addition of vegetables when making the broth imparts a naturally sweet flavor. I'm using an onion and tomato in this recipe. I think daikon would give very nice flavor to the soup as well.
You will need: 3-4 lb beef chuck roast, 3 Tbsp cooking oil, 8-10 cloves garlic, 6 slices ginger, 1 medium onion, 1 large tomato, 6 Tbsp chili bean sauce, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup rice wine, 3 star anise, water, Chinese noodles (can be substituted with fettuccine), and bok choy.
Chili bean sauce 辣豆瓣醬 [Mandarin: la dou ban jiang] is a spicy paste made from fermented soybeans. There is also a non-spicy version that does not include chili if you don't like spicy food. Beef noodle soup is traditionally spicy, but you are certainly welcome to customize your soup to fit your taste. You can find both versions of the bean sauce in an Asian market. I prefer the brand (pictured below) with the blue lid that is made in Taiwan. Lee Kum Kee is another brand that I would trust.
First, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Then lower the beef into the boiling water. The goal is not to cook the meat. What we're doing at this stage is getting rid of some of the yucky protein residue that comes from cooking meat in a soup.
Let the meat cook for about 3-4 minutes, just so the outside is white. Fish the meat out and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. Discard the water.
Cut the beef into cubes. Set aside.
Heat up the cooking oil in a hot wok. Once the oil is hot, throw in the ginger slices and peeled garlic cloves. Stir fry until fragrant.
Then chop the onion into large chunks and throw the chunks into the wok. Stir it around.
Put the bean sauce into the wok. Stir fry for about 3 minutes.
Now, cut the tomato into 8 wedges and throw the wedges in. Stir it around.
Now, add the beef chunks.
Stir fry until the beef chunks turn mostly white.
Transfer the mixture from the wok to a large pot. Add the soy sauce, rice wine, and star anise. Cover the meat with water.
Bring the soup to a boil. Then turn down the heat and cover with a lid. Allow the soup to simmer for about 5-6 hours (or longer if you like).
Here's what my soup looks like after 6 hours of simmering. The garlic, onion and tomato chunks should now be super soft and almost disintegrated. The beef should be tender but not falling apart. The soup is condensed and very flavorful by this point. If you like, you can filter out the ginger, garlic, onion, tomato, and star anise. I personally don't mind them staying in the soup.
Now, we assemble the bowl. First, boil up some noodles and put the cooked noodles in a large bowl.
Chop up some bok choy and boil them in the same water you cooked the noodles in. Fish them out and top your noodles with them. Then ladle some of the noodle cooking liquid into the bowl too.
Now, ladle some of the beef soup into the bowl. Make sure you top off with lots of the tender beef. Garnish with some chopped green onions if you so choose. Another popular and traditional topping is Chinese sauerkraut 酸菜 [Mandarin: suan cai]. I chose not to top mine off with anything because I was hungry.
Enjoy!
