101 Easy Asian Recipes – Sincerely, Syl

Dear In-Laws,

You make the best beef noodle soup. Hands down. And I can confidently say this now that we went on a trip to Taiwan together – where beef noodle soup originated from – and I tried many bowls that did not live up to my expectations. It was the first meal I bought in Taiwan in one of the many tasty and busy food courts. We even lined up for over an hour for another at a restaurant (let’s not talk about how that was so not worth it). Heck, I even gave it another attempt in the airport before we left. But nope, none had the flavours that I wanted, yours is truly the high standard.

I keep telling myself that Howard and I need to learn how you make that broth. So I don’t have to wait for the birthdays or special occasions when you do grace us with that piping hot bowl of comfort. I don’t know what I love more, pho or beef noodle soup? It might be a tie.

So imagine my surprise when I saw a fairly simple recipe that took less than 4 hours to make! Could it be? Let’s find out.

Beef Noodle Soup
Makes about 4 servings
Recipe from Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes

2 tablespoon grape seed oil
2 pounds boneless beef shank meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoon minced ginger
1 ½ tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon gochujang (fermented chile paste)
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 whole star anise
1 3-inch long cinnamon stick
2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (cooking wine)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
10 cups water
1 tablespoon hondashi (bonito)
2 handfuls baby bak choy
8 ounces Yet-Ca-Mein (noodles)
⅛ sesame oil

I was actually quite surprised at how little ingredients I had to purchase. I had to pick up the meat, ginger, hondashi, and bak choy, but I had everything else in my pantry. If you’re looking for gochujang, your best bet is a Korean supermarket. I also found the Shaoxing wine and hondashi in a Chinese/Taiwanese grocery store. Everything else should be pretty common in large chains across the country.
I got to use my Dutch oven for this (yay) and heated it over medium-high heat with the grape seed oil (you can also use another neutral oil here). Add in the ginger and garlic, give it a quick stir for thirty seconds. You can still see my minced ginger and garlic in the photos – Howard gave me some flak for that. It’s my least favourite prep to do, so when they look “small” enough to me, I stop! Season the meat with 3 teaspoon of salt.
This is what the cookbook calls the flavour party: add in the beef, gochujang, soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, wine, sugar, and vinegar.
Stir for a minute, add in the water and hondashi and stir until it’s dissolved. I stored my leftover hondashi in an airtight jar, as I could only find them in packets that were way more than the tablespoon needed.
Once the broth starts simmering, turn the heat down to low to keep it on simmer state. Skim any froth, fat, or scum on the surface out with a ladle – but then remember to replace a ladle-ful of water for each ladle you discard.
Partially cover the pot with a lid and let it simmer for 2 hours. I kept checking back at the hour to discard any froth on the surface and replacing each scoop with water. But you’re pretty much done here. You can cool it and chill it in the fridge for up to three days. Or eat it that same day.
Boil some water and blanch the baby bak choy. Take them out with a slotted spoon and set aside. Then boil the noodles in the same pot of water that is now saturated with all that vegetable goodness in it. Drain and divide into servings. Place the bak choy on top, along with some slices of beef, and ladle in the hot broth over until just about covered.
This is optional, season the broth with sesame oil. I preferred it without, while Howard thought it was way better with it.

Pair those piping hot bowls with some freshly fried scallion pancakes and it’s pretty close to the greatest meal ever. You’ve got your crispy and salty side dish to go with that hearty and filling noodle.

So what was the verdict?

This recipe was good, but just still not as good as the one you make. Howard refused to drink my broth here, but we all know that he gulps down the bowls you serve us at home.

Oh and because we’re in a condo, our place smelled like beef soup for a couple of days. That simmering time acted as an aroma diffuser for every corner of our place. I think I went through four mini candles before our home started to smell neutral again!

Sincerely,
Syl

Dear Mom,

I can’t believe you’re walking around colonial America right now. You just texted me a photo of you and dad enjoying the sunshine in Virginia. I’m just glad to see you’re both safe and are having a fun time with your friends. I admit I was a little worry about the timing of your road trip after this week’s news. Granted, I’m still worried and won’t stop until you’re back home in a few days.

This has been such a weird week. So many swirling feelings around the future and even the present. I was in such a funk on Wednesday, not really feeling right. Being at work felt oddly wrong, it felt like we should all be banding together to do something. Commuting, I couldn’t tell if my fellow Torontonians were feeling it too or if it was just the usual rush hour crowd.

Then there was Remembrance Day which also reminds of us the solemn past that we do not want repeated. Gosh, what will the history books tell of our days? Of this moment in history? The good thing is that we’re seeing a lot of amazing people rallying together and spreading positive messages using art as a medium.

I don’t think I knew this about myself, but I think I’m a stress eater! I don’t know for sure but I’m obviously turning to food to find comfort. I had time off on Friday to make scallion pancakes and beef noodle soup. I love how you knew to order me these delicious eats when I was younger.

Scallion Pancakes
Makes about 6-8
Recipe from Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes

4 cups all-purposed flour + more for dusting
¼ cup vegetable shortening
1 ½ + ⅓ cup warm water
2 cups chopped scallions
2 teaspoon salt + more for sprinkling
sesame oil
grapeseed oil (or another neutral oil)

Take out that stand mixer of yours and attach the dough hook to it. In the bowl, add in 2 cups of flour with all the vegetable shortening. Mix on low until the shortening has broken down into flour-covered bits, resembling a coarse crumble.
Pour in the water and mix for about 3 minutes until a dough forms.
Stop the mixer and add in the remaining 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoon of salt, and ⅓ cup of water. Turn on the mixer and have it knead on medium speed for another 3 minutes. If your dough looks shiny and sticky still (mine did), add in ¼ cup of flour and mix again. The dough still looked a bit wet to me, but I didn’t want it to be too dried, so I left it at that. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes in the fridge.
While the dough is chilling, chop up your scallion and take out the sesame oil and salt.
Unwrap the dough and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Dust your work surface with flour and roll the first piece into a square-ish shape about 8×8 inches. Remember when I said the dough seemed too wet? Well, it was perfect. Easy to roll out and beautiful. Nothing makes me happier than perfect dough consistency.
Pour a teaspoon of sesame oil on it and brush the entire surface. If you need more sesame oil, keep adding until the surface is covered with a thin layer. Sprinkle on a pinch of salt and then add in 1-2 tablespoons of scallions.
Roll the dough into a log and form it into a tight spiral. The cookbook calls this a Cinnabon of scallion pancake dough!
Repeat with the remaining 7 pieces of dough.
Take out a skillet or frying pan and fill it with ⅛ inch of grapeseed oil over medium heat.
While the oil is warming up, it’s time to flatten those spiraled pieces of dough. The log roll and spiral helped embed all those pieces of scallions inside the dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll these “Cinnabon” shapes out until they’re flat 8-inch circles. Gently place it in the frying pan and fry 2-3 minutes on each side. Only flip once! Use a pair of tongs to help flip and take out the scallion pancakes when they’re ready. They’re super hot, so let it cool on a wired rack before hungry hands come along.

This is the dough that I ended up wrapping to chill. It looks very gooey, but let it be. Let it be.

I love the ombré of a good scallion. The white roots to the pale green to the dark green.

The cookbook calls for a tablespoon for each pancake, but I just chopped up a bunch because I like it extra scallion-y.

A teaspoon of flour is roughly the right amount for lightly flouring your work surface.

Still can’t get over how smooth and easy it was to roll.

Just darn perfect.

You’ll have to eyeball the amount of sesame oil.

See? I already need more.

Do not skip the salt!!! You need it otherwise your pancakes won’t be crave worthy.

Told you, more than a tablespoon of scallions for me.

Gently take the edge and start the rolling process.

Keep going until you have a rolled up log.

Then take that log and spiral it into a bun.

Like so! A little snail.

When it’s time to fry, flatten that spiral down.

Wait for it to get golden.

You should really let it cool before picking it up. My fingers were burning here.

Oh my gosh, so flaky and delicious. Totally worth the burnt fingers.

You know that rule where the first pancake is always a throwaway? Not the case here!

Mom, you’ll like to hear about this … Howard went “yummy” after every single bite. And he didn’t want to share when I made one for dinner. I had to tell him there were 4 more in the fridge waiting for us to eat. Sigh.

Sincerely,
Syl