I’ve always enjoyed the flavors of Chinese and Thai foods in particular, and have been slowly learning more about how to cook with these flavors. A good friend served an amazing Szechuan boiled beef soup a few months ago, which then set me on the path to this recipe.
A few notes: While many of the ingredients can be found in our local food economy, I did have to visit the Chinatown Market on Price Street to supply some of the more specialty ingredients (Szechuan peppercorns, spicy bean paste). Local ingredients of note are the baby bok choy & cilantro from Vertu Farm and the beef from Savannah River Farms. The udon noodles can be found either a specialty food store or in the world foods section of the grocery store. For the bone broth, homemade is best as it will have the richest flavor and nutritional value. This recipe goes from good to great if the quality of the broth is high. The amount of hot bean sauce can always be added to at the end; the amount I recommend puts it at a low to medium spicy level. Finally, while I chose to use baby bok choy, many different vegetables are possible in this dish – and they can be stir fried in some peanut oil prior to starting the other cooking if they not as delicate as bok choy. I chose to not stir fry the bok choy in order to keep the more crisp texture as a contrast to the rest.
Ingredients
1lb beef for stir fry
1tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup peanut oil
finger of ginger, cut into 6 slices
6 scallions, sliced into 1/2″ pieces
2 tbsp szechuan peppercorns
6 tbsp hot bean sauce
1 package udon noodles (c. 9oz)
3 cups bone broth
2 tsp sugar
1 lb baby bok choy
cilantro or micro cilantro
1. Before beginning the cooking process, the beef should be sliced into thin pieces (no more than 1/4″ thick), against the grain. The beef should then be placed in a bowl with the baking soda and covered with just enough water to cover the beef. Mix well and leave for an hour. At the end of the hour, run the bowl in cold water for a few minutes and drain. Mix in the cornstarch and set aside.
2. Before starting the main work of cooking in your wok, put on a pot of water to boil for the noodles.
3. Heat the wok to medium and add in the peanut oil. Once thoroughly warmed, add in the ginger pieces to sizzle away till light brown and aromatic, about 3 minutes. Then add in the scallions and Szechuan peppercorns and cook for another 2 minutes or so. Finally, add in the spicy bean paste and cook till the color has spread throughout the oil. (there’s a couple of photos of this step above)
4. Add the stock and sugar and turn up to medium high. Once boiling, add the beef, cooking till opaque. At this point when you add the beef, your pot of water for the noodles should also be boiling and the noodles can be added.
5. Take a large, deep bowl from which the soup will be served and place the baby bok choy (and any other vegetables you decide to stir fry) on the bottom of the bowl. Once the noodles are done cooking they can be placed on the bok choy. When the beef is done, pour the full contents of the wok over top of the bok choy and noodles. Garnish with cilantro or micro cilantro.
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