Ingredients:

Beef Soup:

– 2lbs beef shank or beef brisket

– 1oz Chinese cooking wine

– 5-8g dried chili (adjust as needed)

– 2-3g Sichuan peppercorns

– 10g ginger

– 1 cinnamon stick

– 2-3 star anise

– 2 bay leaves

– 1 half onion

– 1 tbsp chili bean paste

– 1.2L boiling water

– 2 tbsps soy sauce

– 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

– 3g salt

Hand Pulled Noodles:

– 150g all purpose flour

– 90ml water

– 2g salt

Garnish:

– 2 Baby bok choy

– 1 garlic clove (chopped)

– 1 green onion (chopped)

Directions:

Beef soup:

  1. Wash and clean 2lb beef. Turn on the high heat and boil the beef in cold water. Add 4-5 ginger slices and 1oz Chinese cooking wine. Turn down the heat to medium when boiling. Boil for 15 min and get rid of beef scum.
  2. Dump the water and let the beef cool down. Cut it into cubes.
  3. Chop a half onion and prepare dry spices.
  4. In a big pot, stir fry dry spices in 3 tbsps oil in medium heat for 2 min. Then stir fry chopped onions for 2 min. Add beef and stir fry for 2 minutes. Then add chili bean paste and stir fry everything for 2 minutes.
  5. In the same pot, add 1.2L boiling water, 2 tbsps soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 3g salt. Simmer for 2 hours in low heat.

Hand pulled noodles:

  1. Mix flour, salt and water together to make a dough. The ratio of flour to water is 1:0.6. Rest for 30 minutes.
  2. After resting, knead the dough for 2 minutes, and rest for another 30 min.
  3. Brush some oil on the work surface, roll out the dough to 0.5 inch thick. Brush more oil on both sides to keep its moisture, cover it with a plastic wrapper. Rest for 2-3 hours.
  4. Cut the dough into 0.5 inch strips. Stretch and slap the noodle on the work surface.
  5. Boil the fresh noodles for 1.5 min. Boil some baby bok choy for 30 seconds.
  6. Add chopped garlic and green onions to finish off the perfect bowl of braised beef noodle soup!

Notes:

  1. Resting the dough is the key of making hand pulled noodles. The dough will develop gluten by itself and become elastic.
  2. Salt not only provides flavor, but also strengthens gluten bonding.
  3. Slapping the noodle on the work surface can help it stretch evenly.

This dish is super delicious and well-balanced. The noodle is chewy, beef is soft and savory, the broth is steaming hot and packed with flavors. It looks time-consuming, but mostly you just need to wait for the soup to gain flavors and for the dough to form gluten. It is not hard work, and the payoff is absolutely worth it!