The Hirshon Taiwanese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup – 牛肉麵

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Picture used under Creative Commons License from the excellent blog at www.ladyandpups.com

This recipe is pretty much the national dish of Taiwan – who wouldn’t love a spicy beef noodle soup?! There are annual competitions in Taipei for who can make the best Niu Rou Mien – I’d like to think mine would at least place. 🙂

Given that we are now officially in Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, this seemed like a very appropriate recipe to kick off the blog with. It’s authentic to its roots but modified just enough to make it revolutionary and unique (as well as supremely delicious!). It is also a rarely-known dish outside Taiwan and that needs to be changed ASAP.

My version of this classic recipe adds some Northern Chinese touches – cumin, cardamom, golden rock sugar and minced flowering chive buds, plus using mushroom-flavoured dark soy sauce for even more “low-note” flavour punch.

This isn’t a “short-cut” soup by any means – but it will reward your labor with the soul-warming essence of spicy beef goodness.

Battle on – The Generalissimo!

The Hirshon Niu Rou Mien – Taiwanese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup

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Ingredients

• 3 lbs beef soup bones
• 3 lbs short ribs with bones
• 3 star anise
• ½ tablespoon cardamom seeds
• ½ tablespoon cumin seeds
• 12 crushed cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons minced flower buds of flowering chives
• 1 bunch scallions
• 2 tablespoons Szechuan peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons mushroom-flavoured dark soy sauce
• ⅓ cup light soy sauce.
• 2 tablespoons pulverized golden rock sugar
• 4 dried Sichuan chili peppers, torn into pieces, with seeds
• About 8 tablespoons of chili paste with black beans
• Sesame oil (Kadoya brand preferred)
• Fine Chinese wheat noodles (often labelled as “wonton noodles”)
• Baby Chinese broccoli, baby bok choi, or shanghai bok choi

Instructions

1. Put a wok or large saucepan onto high heat. Add some peanut oil and brown the soup bones. Then transfer the bones to either a large stockpot or a 5 quart slow cooker.
2. In small batches, put the short ribs into the saucepan. Add enough chili paste to get the meat well coated – after they become well-browned, transfer them to another pot.
3. Add just barely enough water to cover the short ribs and then simmer until they’re cooked through. Drain the liquid, and add the liquid to the slow-cooker.
4. Add more chili paste to the cooked ribs, and put them into the fridge overnight
5. In a fresh pan with some peanut oil, add the garlic, shredded chilis, anise, and ginger until they just start to brown – then add them to the slow-cooker.
6. Add the two soy sauces, the peppercorns, and the whites of the scallions to the slow cooker, plus cumin and cardamom. Then add enough water to fill the cooker.
7. Turn the cooker on to simmer, and let it cook for at least 12 hours.
8. Put the broth through a fine sieve, and then back into the slow cooker. Throw away the sieved ingredients.
9. Take the refrigerated beef, and add it to the broth. Add water until the pot is about as full as it was when you started the night before.
10. Let it simmer for another 4 to 6 hours, until the meat is falling apart.While it’s simmering, taste it, and add salt or chili-paste as needed; if the vinegar in the chili paste makes it too sour, add a drop of sugar.
11. Now, the main dish is done – lots of wonderful spicy beef broth is yours to savour!
12. Cook the noodles in boiling salt-water.
13. To serve, bring the soup to a boil. Add in a couple of stems/leaves of the vegetable you picked for each serving, and let it cook until just cooked through.
14. For each serving, take a large soup bowl. Put a couple of drops of sesame oil into the bottom of the bowl.
15. Then add a large helping of noodles, beef, vegetables, thinly sliced scallion tops, and the minced flowering chive buds and fill with the broth.
16. Also, you may wish to add pickled vegetables (suan tsai) – the TFD recipe for suan tsai follows:
17. 3 tablespoons chopped pickled mustard greens
18. 1 tablespoon minced garlic
19. 2 teaspoons sesame oil
20. ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn / salt blend
21. 3 teaspoons sweetened black vinegar
22. 1 tablespoon minced hot chili peppers
23. Make sure to rinse off the pickle brine of the mustard green prior to chopping.
24. Combine mustard green, minced garlic and chili peppers and stir fry.
25. Add salt and vinegar and finally drizzle the suan tsai with sesame oil just before removing from heat.

6.4.5

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