SPICY BEEF NOODLE SOUP

It was so incredibly cold in the Northeast this weekend––even though the heat was cranking non-stop, the house still felt really drafty! Weather like this really makes me crave something spicy, preferably soup. Spicy beef noodle soup to be exact.

I love this Spicy Beef Noodle Soup recipe because of its simplicity. It doesn’t get any more difficult than taking out two stock pots (and if you don’t have two stock pots, you can start with a smaller pot to boil the beef…but you will need to add boiling water to the soup base in the larger pot before simmering).

This step of boiling the beef beforehand is key to ridding the beef of any “impurities.” Many readers question this step…so we decided to actually include a photo that shows what those impurities look like! I usually don’t keep the water used to boil the beef, but since we are making a soup base and we need all the beef flavors we can get, I decided to strain it and use the water for the soup. I’ve tried different cuts of beef for this recipe, but the best I’ve used is chuck––the same kind of beef you’d use for a pot roast!

By the way, if you don’t like spicy food, you can make a variation of this spicy beef noodle soup recipe using regular (non-spicy) bean sauce. Also, I used 2 tablespoons of Sichuan peppercorns. If you’re not too keen on the numbing sensation, reduce it to 1 tablespoon.

As for the noodles, you can choose whatever noodles you’d like to use. Just remember to cook them in a separate pot. After combining the noodles, beef, and soup in a bowl, top with scallions and cilantro, and you’re ready to conquer the cold!

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS

You’ll need two large pots to make this recipe. Fill one large stock pot with 16 cups of cold water. Add the ginger, scallions, Shaoxing wine and beef chunks.

Cover and bring to a boil. Immediately turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. After that, turn off the heat and set aside.

See all that foam at the surface of the liquid? That’s why we do this step!

(I used a wok so we could show the steps more clearly, but you can use the 2nd stock pot for the next stage of the recipe).

Heat the oil in another stock pot or large wok over medium low heat, and add the Sichuan peppercorns, garlic cloves, onion, star anise and bay leaves.

Cook until the garlic cloves and onion chunks start to soften (about 5 – 10 minutes). Stir in the spicy bean paste.

Then add the tomatoes and cook for two minutes. Finally, stir in the light soy sauce and sugar. Turn off the heat.

Now, let’s scoop out the beef, ginger, and scallions from the 1st pot and transfer them to the 2nd pot. Then, pour in the stock through a fine mesh strainer.

Place the pot over high heat, and add in the dried tangerine peel. Cover and bring the soup to a boil. Immediately turn the heat down to a simmer, and cook for 60-90 minutes.

After simmering, turn off the heat, but keep the lid on, and let the pot sit on the stove (with the heat off) for another full hour to let the flavors meld together. Your soup base is done.  Remember to bring the soup base to a boil again before serving. As an optional step, pick out the beef, strain the soup if you mind the floating spices and aromatics in the soup.

Cook your noodles in a separate pot according to the package instructions, and divide among your serving bowls (you can get 8-10 servings out of your pot of soup and beef).

Top the bowls with hot broth, beef, scallions, and cilantro.

Serve this spicy beef noodle soup piping hot! If you still have leftover stock and beef, you can freeze it and reheat for future meals.