Ingredients
- 1 pound beef for stewing, preferrably with some fat for juiciness
- 5 cm piece of fresh ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 spring onions
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 3 tbsp chili bean paste
- 3 cup beef/game stock
- 4 tbsp cooking rice wine
- 1/2 Cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp whole Sichuan pepper
- 2 star anise
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- salt to taste
Preparation
Step 1
1. Blanch the beef in boiling water for a minute or two until scum has risen to the surface, then remove the meat and rinse it under the tap. Cut the beef into 1-2 inch chunks. Crush the ginger slightly. Cut the spring onions into 2 or 3 sections. Slice the garlic.
2. Heat the oil in a flat-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. When it is hot, add the chili bean paste and stir-fry for about 30 seconds until the oil is red and richly fragrant. Add the beef, the ginger, the garlic, the spring onions, and the spices and keep stir frying for about 1 minute. Add the stock, soy sauce, sugar and wine.
3. Bring the liquid to boil, skim if necessary, then turn the heat down and simmer gently until the beef is beautifully tender. This will depend on which cut of beef you are using, but it should be at least 2 hours. (if using a crockpot, longer) Before turning off heat, add salt to taste.
To make soft yolk eggs and noodle
Add water into a deep saucepan, enough to submerge eggs. Place eggs in the pan and turn on heat. Turn off heat when water starts boiling and cover the lid to let the steam keep cooking the eggs for 3 minutes. Drain hot water and submerge eggs in cold water until completely cooled down.
Cook one bundle of buckwheat noodle as direction, about 3 minutes after water boiling. Drain the noodle immediately and serve with braised beef and its sauce, as long as egg halves and pea tendrils (also called pea shoots, are the leafy, tender stem portion of young pea plants) or cilantro.