Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Serves: 4-5

Prep Time: 25 min

Cook Time: 1-2 hours

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup is delicious, rich, spicy, savory, fresh, broth that is best paired with bok choy, and fresh herbs to garnish. This is perfect for a cold Seattle winter day, or to help you get over that lingering cold. If you have an Instant Pot with a pressure cooker setting, this can cut down your simmer time by an 1 hour for those in a time crunch.

Ingredients

2 lb beef shank, cut into bite sized pieces

8 scallions, halved

10 slices fresh ginger

6 star anise

½ cup vegetable oil

6 cloves garlic, smashed

1 medium white onion, quarted

2-3 small pieces of rock sugar

2-3 tbs spicy/regular Chinese bean paste

½ cup dark soy sauce

½ cup rice wine

½ cup light soy sauce

2 medium tomatoes, quartered

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp salt

2 dried bay leaves

2-3 bundles fresh wheat noodles

2 large bok choy

Scallions, to garnish

Cilantro, to garnish

Pickled cabbage, garnish (optional)

Chili oil, garnish (optional)

Preparation

1. In a large 6-quart pot, add in your beef chunks, 5 scallions, 5 pieces of ginger, 3 star anise pods, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes, then strain out the cooking liquid, and save the beef for later.

2. In the same pot over medium high heat, add in cooking oil, the remaining 5 scallions, 3 ginger slices, garlic, quartered onion, rock sugar, bean pasta and 3 star anise pods. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onions become translucent.

3. Add the beef back in and then add in the dark soy sauce, rice wine, light soy, and tomatoes. Cook for 8-10 minutes.

4. Add in water until the meat is 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. Optional: transfer your ingredients into a pressure cooker to cut down the cooking time.

5. Optional: strain the liquid into another pot and add the beef chunks back in for a cleaner soup. Or don’t, and just carefully gather the beef and broth.

6. Bring a pot of water to boil over high heat and cook the noodles according to the packaging. Strain the noodles and give it a cold rinse to stop it from cooking further.

7. Quickly stir fry, or steam, or boil the bok choy until mostly soft (about 2-3 min).

8. Place a handful of noodles in a bowl of your choice, add in bok choy, meat, and top off with broth, green onions and cilantro. Enjoy!

NOTE: If your soup is too spicy, you can dilute it with water.