Taiwanese red-braised beef noodle soup

Grandma Li

This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.

This is my home version of Taiwanese red-braised beef noodle soup, following mainly a signed recipe labeled as the Taiwanese version: beef shank braised with doubanjiang, soy sauce, wine, tomato and spices, served with noodles, bok choy and pickled mustard greens. That recipe serves 10 and I halve it, and the conversion to grams and milliliters is mine. The proportions of sugar, soy sauce, wine, doubanjiang and tomato paste follow that recipe, while the amounts of ginger, garlic, scallion, chilies and the spice sachet are my own. The other recipe, by a different author on the same food blog, is for red-braised beef noodle soup with beef chuck, daikon and a large bundle of spices; it is not labeled Taiwanese, so it counts as an adapted reference, and I borrowed its step of letting the beef rest in the broth.

Ingredients

• Beef shank 700 g, cut into 3 cm cubes (half the 3 pounds in that recipe, converted)
• Cooking oil 1 tablespoon
• Ginger 3 slices (my own amount)
• Garlic 3 cloves (my own amount)
• Scallions 2: one cut into lengths for the braise, one sliced for topping (my own amount)
• Onion 1/2, cut into chunks (my own amount)
• Tomato 1, cut into chunks (my own amount)
• Dried chilies 2 (my own amount)
• Tomato paste 1/2 tablespoon
• Doubanjiang (chili bean paste) 1 tablespoon
• Sugar 1 teaspoon
• Light soy sauce 60 ml (1/4 cup)
• Shaoxing wine 60 ml (1/4 cup)
• Water about 1 liter
• Spice sachet: star anise, cassia, cloves 2 star anise, 1 small piece of cassia, 3 cloves (my own mix and amounts)
• Fresh wheat noodles 450 g
• Bok choy 2 heads
• Pickled mustard greens as much as you like, chopped

Steps

1. Cut the shank into pieces, start it in cold water, bring it to a boil and skim off the scum, then lift the beef out and rinse it.
2. Heat the oil and fry the ginger, garlic, scallion lengths, onion and dried chilies until fragrant. Add the tomato and tomato paste and cook until soft, then add the doubanjiang and fry until the oil turns red.
3. Return the beef to the pot, add the sugar, soy sauce and wine and stir a few times, then pour in the water and add the spice sachet.
4. Bring it to a boil, turn the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly. That recipe uses about 100 minutes in a pressure cooker or three to four hours on the stove, and the other recipe simmers beef chuck for about 90 minutes. I use the stove and, from two hours on, poke a piece with a chopstick every half hour: it is ready when the chopstick goes in easily and the meat is soft but not falling apart.
5. Turn off the heat and leave the beef in the broth for half an hour, borrowing the other recipe's resting step; it rests for an hour and I rest it for half an hour. Taste for salt and add a little boiling water if it is too salty.
6. Boil the noodles and bok choy in a separate pot of water. Put the noodles in bowls, add the beef, ladle in the broth, and top with the pickled mustard greens and sliced scallion.

Tips

• I judge the saltiness of the broth by tasting, and I adjust it after the beef has rested; that is my own habit.
• I sometimes braise it the day before; once it cools the fat floats on top and is easy to skim, and I reheat it the next day before cooking the noodles. That is my own way.

Allergens: wheat, soy