Sichuan style red-braised beef noodle soup, although not so famous as Taiwan red braised beef noodle soup outside China, is still the top noodle dishes within the country.
Though noodles are not the main character in Sichuan Cuisine, various types of Sichuan style noodles are really delicious and outstanding. Many people in Sichuan province love to eat noodles in the morning as breakfast. In the small restaurant around the street, it is really common to find dozen of yummy noodles dishes including pea noodles, dan dan noodles and shredded meat noodles. Compared with noodles dishes in north part of China, Sichuan noodles are featured by various tops, featured soup base and other side ingredients, while north noodles are featured by the noodle.
Red braised beef is a famous dish from Sichuan cuisine developed from Sichuan style Red-braised beef with white radish. White radish can absorb some of the fats of brisket and which in return provides an excellent taste. Another variety of Sichuan braised beef noodle soup use picked mustard green as a side ingredient to balance the taste.
Taiwanese red braised beef noodle is slightly different from the humble Sichuan version, usually with more complex seasonings.
Cut brisket into large cubes around 3-4 cm long (not too small because the beef will shrink after boiling). Soak in clean water for around 2 hours. Change water for 4 to 5 times to remove the blood water.
In a high pressure cooker, add spices star anise, cinnamon bark, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorn, scallion, ginger slices and around 2.5 times of water (around 5 cups of water). Press meat to cook for 15 minutes after boiling. If you do not have a high pressure cooker, then the beef brisket need to be simmered for at least 1 hour for a soft taste.
Pick the cooked brisket out and filter the soup base.
Heat up cooking oil in wok, and then stir fry doubanjiang, ginger slices and green onion sections until aroma. Return cooked brisket in. Add light soy sauce and fry for around 2 to 3 minutes. Add radish cubes and enough soup in to cover the brisket. Add sugar and salt as needed. Turn up the fire to thicken the sauce.
A large bowl of braised beef is ready.
Cook your favorite noodle, green vegetables. Scoop the braised beef to the noodle bowl and enjoy. A tip to share, it would be better to mix the braised beef soup with some water for boiling the noodles in order to reduce the spicy taste. Usually I add around ½ cup of noodle water in each serving.
Braised Beef Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 pound beef brisket
- 1 middle size white radish
- 1 tablespoon Doubanjiang , can be replaced by other chili paste
- 1 inch root ginger , sliced
- 2 green onions , chopped, white part and green part separately
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon crystal sugar
- Noodles as needed
- 3 tree Bok Choy
Spice and seasoning for the stewing
- 3 chili peppers
- 2 star anise
- 1 small piece of cinnamon bark
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn
- 4 ~6 ginger slices
- 1 bay leave
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce , if you want a darker color, use soy sauce or dark soy sauce
Instructions
- Cut brisket into large cubes around 3-4 cm long. Soak in clean water for around 2 hours. Change water for 4 to 5 times to remove the blood water.
- In a high pressure cooker, add spices star anise, cinnamon bark, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorn, scallion, ginger slices in to cook. Press meat to cook for 15 minutes after boiling.
- Pick the cooked brisket out and filter the soup base. Wash the brisket with warm water and drain.
- Heat up cooking oil in wok, and then stir fry doubanjiang, ginger slices and green onion sections until aroma. Return cooked brisket in. Add light soy sauce and fry for around 2 to 3 minutes. Add radish cubes and enough soup in to cover the brisket.
- Add sugar and salt as needed. Turn up the fire to thicken the sauce(to reduce around ½ of the water contained in the soup).
- Cook noodles in boiling water for 4 minutes or follow the instructions, add Bok Choy and continue cook for another minute.
- Transfer noodles and Bok Choy out. Serve with braised beef soup and green onion.For a lighter version, add ½ cup of noodle water (water used for boiling the noodles) for each serving.
Nutrition
Holly | Beyond Kimchee
I love Chinese beef noodle soup. I think each region has its own distinctive flavor. I love the chili factor in Sichuan style. I am all in for spicy!
Elaine Luo
Me too Holly. I love Taiwan Version but also the Sichuan version very much.
Thalia @ butter and brioche
I love eating braised beef but have never made it myself before! I can imagine how good this soup would have tasted, it looks jam packed full of yummy flavours. Thanks for the great recipe!
Elaine Luo
Thanks Thalia. Homemade beef noodle bowl is a dream for quite a long time. But it comes out really great and is worth all the hard work.
Sam
Thank you so much for all these wonderful recipes. They look fantastic and I look forward to trying many of them.
Elaine Luo
Hi Sam,
Thanks for visiting and leaving me this warm note. Wish you good luck and happy cooking.
kingdom quark
I have been hunting for decades for Chinese BRAISED BEEF WITH RICE - such as we students used to buy in the basement of the Catholic International Students Hostel, Portland Rise, Manor House, London N4 in 1967 ! If anybody knows from which restaurant I can buy this wondrous delight, ready made, please respond ! The braised beef sauce was a dull red colour, and it was optionally served with cabbage.
Matt
Made this today, and it is really good. Tastes similar to what I had in DongGuan. The grocery did not have brisket, so I used chuck and cut out all of the large pieces of fat.
Thank you for posting the recipe.
Elaine
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the feedback. Beef noodle soup has been one of my favorite dish especially in cold days. Glad to know it is helpful to you too.
kaye
hi, what is the substitute of cinnamon bark?
Elaine
Kaye,
No, there is no substitute. If you cannot find it, just skip.
Andreas
Thank you for this recipe Elaine, I made it yesterday and it was delicious.
I didn't quite understand the last sentence in step 2 of the instructions however. Could you explain what you mean by "Press meat to cook for 15min after boiling"? I don't get the meaning of the word "press" there.
Matt
I think she is referring to a pressure cooker.
Val
This was awesome! I didn't have a pressure cooker so I slow-cooked the beef for a few hours. Thank you for the recipe!
Elaine
Thank you Val for the feedback!! Stewing can make a better flavor.
Xena Zhu
Hi! Love the recipe:) I wonder if there's any one I can reach out for the authorization of these fantastic photos? I hope I can be authorized for using this noodle soup picture for a post on Instagram with labeling out the source / photographer. Please feel free to contact me through the email! Hope to hear from you soon.
Elaine
Xena,
Yes you can use it as long as the picture is well credited.
Hailey
I made this last night. Pretty tasty! I ran out of Douban, and my new douban hasn't come in yet, so I used hot pot base instead. It's not as strong, so I had to use a little extra. It sort of reminded me of chee hou beef. I'd love to see your recipe for that! Right now I usually make eckitchensg's Hong Kong Chee Hou Braised Beef, and that's very good, but very different from most recipes I see for Chee Hou Beef. Although, I do see a lot of variation in every Chee Hou Beef recipe I come across. Do you make it? How do you like to make it?