Taiwanese Braised Beef Soup

• 1 kg beef shin

• 1 piece of beef leg bone (ask your butcher for this, or you can replace both the shin and this separate bone with 1.5Kg beef short rib)

• 1 pack of udon noodles / long wheat noodles

• 1-2 stalks of pak choi

• 50g Coriander

• 1 pack of pickled mustard greens (ya cai, optional)

SOUP BASE INGREDIENTS

• 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 onion

• 1 large tomato

• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger

• 5-6 cloves garlic

• 3 spring onions

• 5-6 dried red chilies

THE SOUP FLAVOUR

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 2 tbsp chilli bean paste (douban jiang)

• 100ml soy sauce

• 100ml Shaoxing rice wine

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 2-3L chicken stock / boiling water

• 1 Chinese mixed spice packed (or tie 2 handfuls of the following selection of spices into a muslin cloth: Sichuan peppercorns, 3-4 cinnamon sticks, 5 cardamom pods, 8-star anise, 6-7 cloves, 10 pieces dried mandarin peel, 5-6 bay leaves, handful of whole white and black peppercorns, 2-3 tbsp liquorice slices, 2 nutmeg, and 2 tbsp fennel seeds)

THE SPRING ONION OIL

• 3 Spring onions

• ½ thumb-sized piece of ginger

• ½ tsp salt

• 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

• Firstly, slice the beef into large dices and blanch the beef and bone in boiling water. Keep on a rolling boil for 5-6 minutes to remove any scum. Pour through a sieve and then run cold water over the beef to remove any excess scum from around the pieces of beef.

• Now roughly chop the onion and tomato, keeping the skin on both and then peel and bash your garlic and ginger with your knife and roughly chop the spring onion. Soak the dried red chillies in hot water for 10 minutes.

• Heat 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil in a large saucepan to a medium heat and add all the prepared ‘Soup Base Ingredients’ in and give it a good stir. Keep cooking until the onions have softened and the ginger is starting to brown nicely.

• Now add the blanched beef back into the saucepan and add all ‘The Soup Seasoning’ ingredients apart from the chicken stock / boiling water. Deglaze the pan by scraping any caramelised bits off the bottom of the pan. Then pour the chicken stock / boiling water over the top and bring to a boil and then place your muslin cloth of mixed spices into the saucepan and ensure it is fully covered in the liquid. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low, cover with a lid and allow to simmer for a minimum of 3 hours. After a couple of hours remove the muslin of spices so that they do not over overpower soup. The longer you simmer this stock the better the flavour.

• Whilst your beef is simmering away, you have plenty of time to make up the spring onion oil and the rest of the dish.

• Finely slice the spring onion into rings and finely chop the ginger. Mix them together with the salt and then heat the vegetable oil in a wok or pan until smoking hot. Once smoking hot, pour the oil carefully over the spring onion and ginger to sizzle up. Mix well and set aside for later. Slice the pak choi lengthways into quarters and set aside.

FINISHING THE DISH

• Once the soup is ready, boil your noodles in the soup for 3-4 minutes or until cooked through and tender and then serve into a large soup bowl. Then blanch your quartered pak choi in the soup for 1 minute and place on top of the noodles. Spoon out a portion of the beef dicesdiceplace into the noodle bowl and then pour 2-3 ladles of soup over the top.

• Place a heaped spoonful of the pickled mustard greens and spring onion oil over the top of the noodles and serve.