Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup (紅燒牛肉麵)

This is Papa's absolute favourite Taiwanese dish/noodle soup :) He has fond memories of eating it when he and Mama visited Taiwan for the first time a few years ago. Thanks to the spice packet, this turned out to be a very straightforward recipe! As per Papa's suggestion, after blanching the beef and sautéing the aromatics, I cooked it in a slow cooker overnight (~7 hours). It turned out very tasty—it got Papa's approval! :D

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs beef shank
• Aromatics
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 inches ginger, sliced into large coins and smashed with the back of a knife
• 6-8 garlic cloves, smashed
• 2-3 green onions, cut into 2-inch segments
• 1 medium or 1/2 large onion
• 1 dried chili (even 1 chili adds a bit of a kick, so omit for mild version)
• 2 Roma tomatoes (or 1 large beefsteak tomato)
• 3 tbsp spicy doubanjiang (辣豆瓣醬)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 spice packet (滷包)
• 8 cups water
• 1/2 cup light soy sauce
• 1/2 cup Shaoxing wine
• 900g wheat noodles of choice (medium thickness)
• Toppings
• pea sprouts (豆苗)
• cilantro, chopped finely
• green onions, chopped
• pickled vegetables

Directions:

1. In a large pot, boil enough water to cover the beef (but don't put the beef in yet). Once the water is boiling, place all the beef in. Let the water come back to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Drain in a colander and rinse thoroughly.
2. In the same pot, heat the 2 tbsp oil, and saute the ginger, garlic, scallions, and onions. When the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes and dried chili.
3. Add the meat, doubanjiang, sugar, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine. Mix thoroughly.
4. Add 8 cups of water to the pot, and then transfer all the contents to a slow cooker. Add the spice packet and make sure it's submerged. Cover and cook on low heat for ~7 hours or overnight.
5. In the morning, boil noodles according to packet instructions. When cooked, place noodles, soup, then toppings in a bowl.
6. Enjoy :)

Notes:

• I didn't have any bok choy, but the pea sprouts (dau miu) were an amazing substitute (and I don't think I'm ever going back haha)
• I also didn't have tomato paste, so I just increased the doubanjiang by 1 tbsp and added a second Roma tomato
• I was generous with the garlic and onions
• The recipe calls for 3 lbs of beef but I think ~2.5 lbs is fine

What I would do differently next time:

• Cut the beef into slightly larger pieces (mine turned out around 1" size)
• Use thicker noodles
• Try to find picked vegetables (碎米芽菜)!
• and add green onions!

(original recipe from The Woks of Life)