It’s been a busy few weeks that I'd spent studying, and I barely left the house. It's also the flu season, and I’ve been wrestling with back-to-back colds. I was craving something rich, soupy and warm, and more importantly, something to distract me from my impending examinations. Beef shins appear only sporadically in my area, and so when they appeared one day behind the grocer’s meat section, I bought back several hunks. Both ends of the beef shins have this off-white structure, just like a piece of shin bone running through but is slightly rubbery in nature, until I figured out that must’ve been the tendon.
This Asian recipe is quite interesting. The usual way (that I had thought) of making beef broth would have been to first sear the beef, and then deglazing and scraping up the fond before letting the beef simmer in the oven. And of course, the obligatory tablespoon of tomato paste. But to prove the old adage that there's no one single way to success, I followed the recipe to the recipe. and made as it was, was utterly delicious. I was blown away by how it tasted.
A recipe for hot sunny days, cold rainy days, and every day in between.
Taiwanese Beef Noodles Soup
Adapted from Tasty's Taiwanese Beef Noodles
Makes 6 servings
INGREDIENTS
Boiling water, about 6L, or more as needed
1kg beef shank
6 scallions, halved crosswise, divided
8 slices fresh ginger, divided
6 pods star anise, divided
½ cup vegetable oil(120 g)
6 cloves garlic
2 red chiles, 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)
½ cup rice wine(120 mL)
½ cup light soy sauce(120 mL)
2 medium tomatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
dried bay leaf
2 bundles flour noodle
50g bok choy
scallion, sliced, for garnish
fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish
red chile, for garnish
Black and White Sesame seeds, for garnish
STEPS
1. In a large pot, add the beef shank, 3 scallions, 5 slices of ginger, and 3 star anise pods. Fill the large pot with enough boiling water to submerge the beef shank, about 5-6L of water. Cover and let boil for about 5 minutes over high heat. Boiling the beef remove the scum, while the spices remove the gamey-ness of the beef.
2. Remove the meat from the pot, and submerge it in cold water. Discard the cooking liquid. Cut the meat into thick medallions, about 3/4 of an inch thick. Set aside.
3. In a wok or large pan set over medium-high heat, add the vegetable oil, the remaining 3 scallions, 3 ginger slices, the garlic, red chiles, remaining 3 star anise pods, the onion, rock sugar, and spicy bean paste. As the onions cook and start to turn translucent, add the sliced beef, the dark soy sauce, the rice wine, light soy sauce, and finally the tomatoes. Stir fry for 8-10 minutes.
4. Transfer the contents of the wok to the original large pot, and add water until the liquid covers the meat. Add white pepper, salt, and bay leaves, and allow the liquid to come up to a boil over medium-high heat. Then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pot and continue cooking for at least 2 hours, until the meat becomes tender. Remove the bay leaves and star anise before serving.
5. In a medium-sized pot, cook the flour noodles according to the package instructions. In a third pot, boil bok choy for 3 minutes, then remove.
6. To assemble the soup: place noodles into a bowl, then add the meat, vegetables and broth. Garnish and serve immediately.
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