Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup - American Colors

Taiwan is renowned for its beef noodle soup, and for me, A&J Restaurant’s beef noodle soup is the best ever, hands down. I did a little digging and found a video online that replicated or more like made their own version which comes almost exactly to the same taste profile as A&J’s.

My wife made it one time and it was almost there—the missing part was cutting the beef shank. Okay, here’s the recipe. I won’t bore you with any backstory BS.😆

I used small images so it fits your iphone if you’re following the recipe directly step by step. 🙂

Boil beef shank with 3 scallions and 3 long slices of ginger and 3 star anise for about 5 minutes.

Take the beef shank, cool so you can handle it, and slice into 1” rounds.

It’s okay that it’s completely raw inside.

Put in pressure cooker and fill to just barely covered with water, and cook for 20 minutes. It’ll still be tough when done, but we simmer later on.

Here’s the rest of the ingredients for the sauté and simmer:
3 scallions,
3 slices of ginger,
6 garlic cloves,
1 onion,
2 lg or 4 sm tomatoes
3 star anise (spice),
1 Tsp rock candy (or 1/2 if using white sugar),
5 bay leaves,
1/2 cup dark soy sauce,
1/2 cup light soy sauce (1 cup reg. Soy sauce is fine if you don’t have light or dark)
1/2 cup rice wine,
3 Tsp Do Ban Jiang (Chinese Broad Bean Chili),
1 tsp white pepper

1) Add around 4-5 Tsp of cooking oil, and add the beef and fry a little–1-2 min. is fine.
2) Then add onions, scallions, ginger and garlic and cook down till it’s soft
3) Then add both soy sauce, rice wine, chili sauce, and sugar
4) Add the tomatoes to the sides so it can get good heat and soften up
5) Add the star anise and bay leaves and 1 tsp of white pepper
6) Add water till it covers all the ingredients
7) Once it starts to boil, turn the heat down to simmer and cover for 45-60 min.

Boil some wheat noodles per instructions (most any Asian style is fine–your preference), you can blanch the bok choy in the boiling water for 1-2 min. and set aside first.

Ingredients
2-2.5 lb beef shank
6 scallions
6 slices of ginger
6 garlic cloves
1 onion
2 lg or 4 sm tomatoes
6 star anise (spice)
1 Tsp rock candy (or 1/2 if using white sugar)
5 bay leaves
1/2 cup dark soy sauce (or 1 cup of regular soy sauce is okay)
1/2 cup light soy sauce
1/2 cup rice wine
3 Tsp Do Ban Jiang (Chinese Broad Bean Chili)
1 tsp white pepper

Cooking Instructions
Boil beef shank with 3 scallions and 3 long slices of ginger and 3 star anise for about 5 minutes.
Take the beef shank, cool so you can handle it, and slice into 1” rounds. It’s okay that it’s completely raw inside.
Put in pressure cooker and fill to just barely covered with water, and cook on manual high pressure for 20 minutes. It’ll still be tough when done, but we simmer later on.
In a large pot or wok, add 4-5 Tsp oil, then add the beef. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Then add all the vegetables in, and cook down till it’s soft/wilted.
Then add all the sauces: both soy sauce, rice wine, chili sauce, and sugar
Add the tomatoes to the sides so it can get good heat and soften up
Now add the star anise and bay leaves and 1 tsp of white pepper
Finally add water till it covers all the ingredients
Once it starts to boil, turn the heat down to simmer and cover for 45-60 min.
Boil some wheat noodles per instructions (most any Asian style is fine–your preference), you can blanch the bok choy in the boiling water for 1-2 min. and set aside first.