Braised Beef Noodles 红烧牛肉面

| By: Yuyao Zhou |

Braised beef noodles is a Chinese noodle dish that can be a whole meal with noodles as Fan (staple food) and braised beef as Cai (non-staple food). It is also one of my favorite dishes. I learned how to make it from my aunt who owns a noodle house. It is recommended to get the ingredients from a Chinese supermarket for the best taste. There are also alternatives if the ingredients are not available. The cooking process is about 2 hours.

Ingredients

• Beef 500g

• Cooking oil 75g

• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

• 2 slices of cut ginger

• 2 cloves of green onion cut

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 1 spoon of bean paste (Pixian doubanjiang recommended)

• Dark soy sauce 20g

• Chinese Liaojiu (recommended), rice wine or dry sherry 15g

• White sugar 25g (recommended) or 1 spoon of honey

• Half teaspoon of Zanthoxylum

• 3 pieces of star anise

• 5 pieces of red pepper (for spicy lovers)

• Red pepper oil 5g

• 1 spoon of oyster sauce

• Chinese noodles 150 per person

• Vegetable of your own choice (Chinese cabbage, tomato or Bamboo shoots recommended)

Cooking Instructions

1. Soak the beef uncut with cold water for half an hour, and then drain the water

2. Fill a pot with water in a pot, bring to a boil and add the beef for 2 minutes

3. Rinse the beef with warm water and cut into cubes or thick slices

4. Add cooking oil into the pot and bring to a boil, wait for 1 minutes

5. Add garlic, ginger, green onion, star anise, and red pepper, Stir fry for 3 minutes

6. Add beef and stir fry for 5 minutes

7. Add dark soy sauce, liaojiu(rice wine or dry sherry), salt, sugar, and bean paste, stir fry for 3 mins

8. Add 1200ml water, turn to low heat and simmer for 90 minutes

9. Add oyster sauce and wait for 10 minutes

10. Get the food out and it will be the topping of the noodle

11. Add 2000ml water and bring it to boil

12. Add Chinese noodle and wait for 3 minutes

13. Add the vegetables and wait for 1 minutes

14. Get the noodle and vegetable out and put it in a bowl

15. Pour the topping onto the noodle and add green onion, red pepper and vinegar by your own choice

16. Enjoy!

Notes

• For spicy lovers, red peppers and spicy millet (it is extremely spicy, don’t put too much) are recommended.

• It is recommended to add some beef soup into the final bowl. However, water also works if beef soup is not available.

• For those who live outside China, please go to a Chinese supermarket for the ingredients.