This is that sticky, spiced beef that really is the star of the show here and with those noodles and crunchy cucumber on top of this dish it tastes heavenly. First up, let’s talk about the beef, in this recipe, use a mixture of beef short ribs and a chunk of steak. The beef short ribs have the bone that’s great because it’s going to add some extra sort of gelatin into the mix and for the chunk of steak you are looking for some bits that have a nice marbling through the center. The first thing you need to do is add some oil in the saucepan, season each piece of beef with salt then place them in the hot oil in the saucepan. What we are doing here is creating flavor, there is a chemical reaction that happens when meat gets nice and brown and that what h=gives us the extra energy.
Let your meat get really nice and caramelized and brown, once they are done caramelizing, remove from the pan and set them aside. To the pan, add a little bit more oil then add chopped onions, scraping up the pan for the flavor from the chicken then add in a little bit of garlic and cook them until they start to brown. Add in some Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry or white wine stirring to get the flavor from the bottom than at this point add the beef back in. Add some dark soy sauce, a little brown sugar, some chili paste, and cinnamon then stuff mix that together. Put your lid on then gently let that simmer away for about 90 minutes or until the beef is very tender.
Add a little bit of corn flour and water, mixed together around 10 minutes before removing the beef from the heat to get a really thick luscious glossy sauce. For the noodles, cook them in boiling water and toss them with some sesame oil so they don’t get too sticky. Serve your noodles on the plate then serve your amazing braised beef over the noodles. Add some cucumbers on the side and enjoy your braised beef noodles.
Ingredients;
- 2 lb beef shank (905 g)
- 6 scallions, halved crosswise, divided
- 8 slices fresh ginger, divided
- 6 pieces star anise, divided
- ½ cup vegetable oil (120 g)
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 red chilis, halved lengthwise
- 1 medium white onion, sliced
- 1 piece rock sugar
- 3 tablespoons spicy bean paste, or regular bean paste
- ½ cup dark soy sauce (120 mL)
- A ½ cup of rice wine (120 mL)
- ½ cup light soy sauce (120 mL)
- 2 medium tomatoes, quartered
- water
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 leaves bay leaf
- 2 bundles flour noodle
- 2 cups bok choy (50 g)
Instructions;
- Fill a large pot with about 6 quarts of water and add the beef shank, 3 scallions, 5 slices of ginger, and 3 pieces of star anise.
- Cover, bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove the meat from the pot, rinse in cold water, and cut into thick slices. Discard the cooking liquid.
- In a wok or large pan over medium-high heat, pour in the vegetable oil and add the remaining 3 scallions, 3 ginger slices, garlic, red chilies, remaining 3 pieces of star anise, onion, rock sugar, and spicy bean paste.
- Cook until the onions start to become translucent then add the sliced beef.
- Add the dark soy sauce, for color, stir, then add the rice wine.
- Pour in the light soy sauce, for flavor, then add the tomatoes. Stir fry for 8-10 minutes.
- Fill the same large pot about a quarter of the way with water and heat over medium-high heat.
- Add the stir-fried meat, vegetables, and cooking liquid.
- Add more water until the meat is just covered, then add the white pepper, salt, and bay leaves.
- Cover and reduce the heat to low and simmer for at least 2 hours, until the meat becomes tender.
- Remove bay leaves and star anise before serving.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat and cook the flour noodles according to the package instructions. Remove the noodles from the water.
- Add the bok choy. Boil for 3 minutes, then remove.
- To assemble the soup, place a generous amount of noodles in the bottom of a bowl.
- Then add meat and broth. Garnish with scallions, cilantro, and red chilies.
