Chinese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe.

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe.

(Recipe courtesy by Rachel, written by Betsy)

Ingredients:

2 lbs banana beef shank

1~1.5 tomato, blanched and chopped

0.5~1 yellow onion, finely chopped

14~16 cloves of garlic

2~4 dried red chili peppers (optional)

1 Tablespoon of brown sugar or rock sugar

1~2 cups of soy sauce, adjust as needed

2 cans of chicken broth (optional), you may choose to add this instead of water

½ cup of shao shin wine (or rice wine)

1 pinch of salt

4~6 quarts of water, adjust w/soy sauce and chicken broth as needed

2 Tablespoon of red chili sauce 蒜蓉辣椒醬

2 Tablespoons of (spicy) been paste (辣)豆瓣醬　

Dried herbs include (adjust according to size of the herb pieces):

1 桂皮 (cinnamon stick)
4 橘皮（陳皮）(dried orange peel)
2 甘草 (licorice)

Preparation:

Blanch tomato and peel off the skin.   You may also blanch the banana beef shank (as a whole) into the same pot of boiling water after you have used it for the tomato.  This will help clean off the beef and rid of impurities for cooking later.
Once beef shank is blanched, rinse with cold water and cut into pieces.

Cooking Directions:

Heat oil in large pot and once oil is ready, toss in the minced garlic.   Once garlic is fragrant, saute all the dried herbs until fragrant.
Carefully put all slices of beef shank into the pot, making sure each is distributed onto the pot.  Lightly cook the beef on both sides until brown to lock in the moisture on both sides.
After beef shank is browned, put the chopped onions and tomato into the pot.   Mix well for another minute or so.
Pour in the wine, soy sauce, 2 cups of water, the optional chili sauce, and the bean paste (豆瓣醬 ) into the pot and mix well.  The key is to have everything covered in the liquid.   Adjust the soy sauce to how salty you like the broth to be.
Bring to boil and then pick out the herbs and place them into a herb/tea pouch to separate them from the rest of the stew.   You may also add the rock sugar at this point.
Turn down to low ~ medium heat depending on your type of stove.  Key is to have the stew in small, bubbling state but not boiling.  The herb pouch may simmer with the rest of the stew for another hour or so.
After about an hour of simmering, adjust the taste of the liquid by adding soy sauce, rock sugar, salt, pepper, or water (chicken broth) to your liking.
Again, liquid has to cover all ingredients.
Simmer for another 1~2 hours and you may adjust taste throughout.
Eating instructions:

Assembly:

Prepare a large bowl with little bit of vinegar (optional) and dash of pepper.
Boil one serving of store-bought fresh noodles (follow package instructions).  Remove cooked noodles from the pot, rinse with cold water, and toss with some sesame oil to prevent noodles from sticking together.
Add some beef broth into the bowl (about 1/3 of the bowl), and then add the cooked noodle into the bowl.
You may boil your vegetable in the same liquid used for boiling noodles and then add vegetable into your bowl.
Add some of the noodle water into the bowl to dilute the salty beef broth.
Add some pieces of beef onto the top of the bowl.  You may garnish the bowl with some scallions, pickled vegetables and red chili.

Bon appétit!!