Hong Kong street beef recipe
The richly flavoured and aromatic soup base, combined with the savoury hit of the steak, wraps you in a warm blanket of contentment. It’s the best kind of comfort food: Tastes like it took hours, but ready in minutes. Winner!
Ingredients
For the beef- 1 tbsp crushed yellow bean sauce
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 0.5 tbsp vegetable oil
- 250 g rib-eye steak, or use sirloin/ porterhouse if you prefer
- 85 g purple sprouting broccoli, or use regular broccoli cut into bite-sized pieces
- 120 g dried thin wheat noodles (or use thin rice noodles for a gluten-free alternative)
- 230 g lean minced (ground) beef, or substitute
- 900 ml ready-made fresh beef stock (or boiling water)
- 2 small onions, finely diced
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 large black cardamom pod
- 0.5 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tsp ginger paste, or 2.5cm (1 inch) piece of fresh root ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tsp garlic paste, or 2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
- 0.5 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- 0.5 tsp finely ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp crushed yellow bean sauce
- 1 spring onion (scallion), finely sliced
- 1 handful fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly torn (optional)
- 2 tbsp chilli oil (optional)
Details
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Recipe Type: Beef
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 30 mins
- Serves: 2
Step-by-step
- Heat a medium saucepan over a medium–high heat and brown the minced beef (if using). Then add all the other soup ingredients except the water or stock.
- Keep stirring for 2–3 minutes, then add the water (or stock, if using). Cover the pan with a lid and leave all those lovely flavours to simmer and intensify over a low heat for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the yellow bean sauce and toasted sesame oil on a plate. Put the steak on the plate and really rub the marinade all over, then set it aside for a few minutes.
- Heat a wok over a high heat and add the vegetable oil. Pan-fry the steak for about 3 minutes on each side. This will cook it medium – but it’s your steak, so cook it how you like. If you want it a bit pinker, then cook it for up to 2 minutes each side. The super-high heat will seal the meat and keep it nice and succulent.
- As soon as the steak is cooked to your liking, put it on a chopping board, cover it with foil and let it rest for a bit.
- Place another medium saucepan on the hob and half-fill with boiling water. Add the broccoli and boil for 2 minutes, then add the dried noodles and simmer for another minute. Drain and divide the broccoli and noodles between two large, deep soup bowls.
- Using a fine sieve, strain the soup broth as you pour it over the noodles in each bowl, discarding the aromatics.
- Slice the steak into strips, then layer on top of the noodle soup. Garnish with spring onion and fresh coriander. Serve with a small pot of red chilli oil on the side for drizzling, and you’re good to go.
This recipe is from The Noodle Cookbook by Damien Lee of Mr Lee's Noodles (Ebury Press, £15.99).
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