Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

For this recipe, I tried to combine different methods from our mom as well as two great blogposts (found here from “Lady and the Pups”) and here from “The Woks of Life”). In the past when I followed our mom’s steps, I overcooked the beef or added too much soy sauce because our mother is one of those chefs who rarely measures anything out.

The Meat/Carrots

• 3 lbs Short Rib (Bone-in), or Beef Shank/Chuck Steak can be used but will be less fatty. Always include the bone if you can, as it will give your broth the best flavor (says mom!)
• 1 giant Chinese supermarket carrot or 3 thicker organic carrots, cut in a rolled fashion

Full List of Ingredients:

• 3 Scallions (if they are organic, make it 5) – chop into 2 inch segments, white only
• 1 onion (quartered and cut so they don’t break apart)
• 1 large Roma Tomato (quartered)
• 4 dried chili peppers, ripped in half
• 2 pieces of 2″ ginger pieces, cut into chunks and smashed
• 6 large cloves of garlic, smashed
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp doubanjian (generous)
• 2 small chunks (about 2 tsp, but it’s hard to measure!) of rock sugar
• 1/2 cup regular chinese soy sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee Premium)
• 1/2 cup Shiaoxing Rice Wine
• 5 tbsp canola oil, divided into 2 and 3
• 2 sachets of Chinese aromatics for braising (if you don’t have it, use cheese cloth sachets to bundle star anise, cinnamon stick, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, chinese five spice powder, sichuan peppercorns, and black pepper but I’ve left some of these out before and it has turned out okay – bolded are the ones mom always has at the very least)
• For topping: more chopped scallions; cilantro; suan cai
• For vegetable: quickly blanched spinach; small bok choy

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and quickly boil the meat with bones for 2 – 3 minutes to get rid of the impurities. Then take it out and rinse under cold water and set aside.
2. Steps can diverge here. You may (1) separate the bone and create a light “bone broth” with aromatics to dilute the beef noodle soup with later or (2) just cook it all together in one pot. See the Lady and Pups blogpost for that step! At this point, I cut up the meet into 2″ chunks after boiling.
3. With 2 tbsp oil and 1 tsp of rock sugar, brown the meat in the dutch oven on medium heat until caramelized on each side. Do in 2 batches if pot is too small
4. In the same dutch oven at medium-high, add 3 tbsp more oil and add your smashed ginger, scallions (white parts only) + the rock sugar for about 1 -2 minutes. Then add onions, and tomatoes, and then garlic (last) until translucent, about 2 – 3 minutes. Lower heat to medium.
5. Put the meat back in the pot along with the carrots and add in your dried chili peppers, doubanjian, tomato paste, soy sauce and shiaoxing rice wine. Stir and make sure the sauces have covered all your ingredients.
6. Add water to cover and 2 sachets, about 6 – 8 cups.  Allow it to come to a simmer, then lower slightly to simmer for 2- 3 hours, no cover.
7. To prepare: boil noodles according to package, drain and blanch vegetables quickly. Place noodles in the bowl, ladle beef/carrot mixture on top, add water/broth to dilute the concentrate, and then top with scallions, cilantro, suan cai, and your vegetables.