Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

In this dish you prepare the noodles separately from the rest of the soup; then you ladle the soup over a bowl of the noodles. It's a really delicious dish and you can adjust the peppers, spices, and seasonings to your taste. Also, if you can't find the particular peppers the dish calls for, you can substitute. In fact, I didn't have any dried chiles; I substituted fresh serrano for the Thai bird chile and used a fresh red pepper too. This makes 4-5 servings of the soup.

I was inspired to make this by watching an episode of "Easy Chinese" on The Cooking Channel. I made a few modifications, including seasoning the meat pieces with some powdered ginger, onion powder, garlic powder, and some salt and pepper.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

2 large shallots, finely chopped

1 large yellow onion, chopped

4 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 red chile, stemmed, seeded and chopped

2 red Thai bird chiles, stemmed, seeded and chopped

16 ounces beef chuck roast or boneless shin, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces*

2 quarts vegetable or beef stock

8 ounces dried flat udon noodles

1 large carrot, chopped

4 teaspoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons chili bean sauce, plus more as needed

2 teaspoons dark soy sauce

2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 4 teaspoons water

2 small Romaine lettuce hearst, sliced into 1/2-inch ribbons

4 scallions, chopped

Handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

*I seasoned my beef pieces, see note above.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and onions and cook until softened, 3 to 4 minutes, and then stir in the ginger, garlic and chiles and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute.

Add the beef and stir-fry until it begins to brown, and then pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until the meat is very tender, 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the udon according to package instructions. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.

Add the carrots to the simmering soup, cover, and cook until crisp-tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Whisk together the sugar, bean sauce and soy sauce in a small bowl until the sugar is dissolved and stir it into the soup. While stirring, pour the cornstarch slurry into the soup and cook until thickened, about 1 minute.

Just before serving, divide the noodles between 2 bowls. Stir the Romaine into the broth and ladle the hot soup over each bowl. Garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro and serve immediately.