Sichuan-Style Red Braised Beef Noodles Recipe

This recipe technically takes hours to make – but it's hours of waiting time. In terms of actual 'doing time', it's more like a couple of minutes.

You can also watch me make this on my YouTube channel:

Ready? Let's go.

(Serves 3–4)

Ingredients:

For the Beef:

500g chopped beef shin or braising steak
2 tsp ground five spice
1 tsp pink Himalayan or sea salt
Dash of vegetable or ground nut oil

For the Broth:

800ml boiling water
2cm cube of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
5–6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 black cardamom
1 stick cassia bark
1/2 star anise (or a small one)
2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 tbsp Sichuan doubanjiang (fermented chilli bean paste)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 onion, quartered

For Each Bowl:

1 tsp Sichuan chilli oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp black Chiangkiang vinegar (optional)
Flat wheat noodles (I like dao xiao mian / knife-shaved noodles the best), cooked to packet instructions
Pak choi or choi sum, steamed or lightly fried
Chopped spring onion and coriander (to garnish)

Method:

1. In a large saucepan, brown the beef in oil over a medium heat with the five spice and salt.

2. Pour over the water, and add all the rest of the broth ingredients. Cover and simmer over a low heat for four hours.

3. Boil and drain your noodles, and steam your greens just before you're ready to serve. Prepare each of your bowls by placing chilli oil, sesame oil and the black vinegar at the bottom. Add the noodles on top, pour over the soup and beef, and top with the greens, spring onion and coriander.

That's it! Enjoy, and have fun.