Spicy Beef Noodle Soup | Niu Rou Mian
The spicy beef noodle soup recipe here is my adaptation of Lorna’s, which employs beef shank or short ribs and black bean sauce. I had chuck and favor chile bean sauce over black bean and chile sauce as the former offers greater heat. Made with broad (fava) beans, Chinese chile bean sauce is called dou ban jiang and is what’s used for Sichuanese ma po tofu; look for it in jars at a Chinese market. Ming Teh brand from Taiwan is reliably good. Original recipe source: The Newlywed Kitchen cookbook by Lorna Yee.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
Soup
- 3 pounds bone-in beef chuck roast, cut into 4 pieces
- Salt
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 10 garlic cloves, bruised
- Chubby 1 ½-inch fresh ginger, cut into 6 slices, each one bruised
- 5 fat scallions, halved crosswise
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
- 4 star anise (32 points total)
- Generous 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns
- 3 Thai or Serrano chiles, split lengthwise
- ¼ cup chile bean sauce
- ⅓ cup Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 ½ ounces yellow Chinese rock sugar
- 6 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 10 cups water
- 1 pound broccolini, broccoli, or baby bok choy, cut into bite size pieces
- 1 pound fresh or dried thick Chinese egg noodles, sometimes labeled Shanghai noodles
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Pat the beef dry and then season all over with salt. In a 5- or 6-quart pot, heat the oil over high heat. Sear the beef on both sides until there is some browning, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
- Add 1 teaspoon salt, and all the remaining soup ingredients: garlic, ginger, five-spice, star anise, peppercorns, chiles, bean sauce, rice wine, rock sugar, both kinds of soy sauces, and water.
- Bring to a boil, skim off the scum that floats to the top. Lower the heat to medium-low to gently simmer. Cover and cook for about 2 hours, until the beef is tender. The broth will simmer under cover.
- Turn off the heat, move the lid askance so that there’s about a ½-inch opening. Let the soup cool. The beef will finish cooking to fork tenderness as the broth cools and concentrates in flavor. (If you make the soup in the evening, let it sit overnight and it will be ready for lunch the next day!)
- Remove the meat and set aside. Strain the broth into another pot. Discard the solids. Reheat the broth over high heat.
- Meanwhile, cook the vegetable and noodles in a large pot of water. Divide among soup bowls. Cut the meat into ½-inch-thick pieces; if it the beef is cold, use a mesh strainer or skimmer to warm it in the hot broth. Divide it among the bowls.
- Bring the broth to a boil, taste and adjust the flavors. Ladle the broth into the bowls. Top with cilantro and serve.