Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup 红烧牛肉面

| By: Melinda Yang |

One of my comfort foods is Taiwanese beef noodle soup, a popular Taiwanese dish that features a rich beef broth flavored with warm spices and braised beef, accompanied with flour noodles. A variety of ingredients can be used as toppings, but it is usually served with Bok choy and a spoonful of chili sauce. This dish is perfect on a cold day, as the warm soup warms up your belly! The ingredients are something you may find at any Chinese household, but can also be purchased at any Asian grocery store (HMart, Uwaijimaya, etc.). When I made this dish with my mom, a lot of the ingredients weren’t measured and were based on the flavors she liked, so you can adjust the flavors for the broth to your liking. This recipe is definitely something I want to learn to perfect so I can make it for my friends in college.

Ingredients

Yield: 2 servings (but it depends on the amount of noodles you cook up!)

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

• 2 pounds prime beef steak (but any tender beef, preferably the fatty part, would work!)

• 1 pound noodles

• 1 pound Bok choy (preferably baby Bok choy)

• 2 Roma tomatoes

• 8-10 garlic cloves, peeled

• 2 slices of fresh ginger

• 2 dried bay leaves

• Tangerine peel

• 2 whole star anise pods

• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 2 teaspoons peppercorns

• Spicy peppers to taste

• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

• Scallions, chopped

• Chopped cilantro for topping

• Crystal sugar

• 3 teaspoons of seasoning soy sauce

• Tomato paste sauce

• 1 spoon of oyster sauce

• Oil

Cooking Instructions

1. To start, cut the meat into small cubes and prep it in cold water before boiling it for a few minutes until medium-rare.

2. Heat another pan with oil (enough to coat it); then add all the ingredients from the spice platter pictured above (onions, scallions, ginger, garlic, peppercorn, sugar, star anise, fennel seeds, chili pepper, cinnamon stick, tangerine peels, and bay leaves). Stir to lightly caramelize.

3. Place 1 spoon of tomato paste and the meat into the pot and follow it with 3 teaspoons of seasoning soy sauce and 1 spoon of oyster sauce. Dark soy sauce can be added here to add some color/taste, but it is optional! Stir for 2-3 minutes until well combined.

4. Add enough water to cover the meat, and transfer the soup to a heavier clay pot where it will simmer for the next 40 minutes. If time allows, cooking the broth longer would make it more flavorful!

5. Boil some noodles a few minutes before the timer ends and blanch some Bok choy and tomatoes to top off the noodles.

6. To assemble, scoop some of the broth from the pot onto your noodles and add several pieces of meat on top. Top it off with some Bok choy, a few slices of tomatoes, and sprinkle cilantro on top. Enjoy!