Sticky Spiced Beef with Noodles and Crunchy Cucumber

So it’s that sticky, spiced beef that really is the star of the show here. And with those noodles and the crunchy cucumber, oh heaven.

Why You’ll Love This

So it’s that sticky, spiced beef that really is the star of the show here.

And with those noodles and the crunchy cucumber, oh heaven.

The beef short rib has the bone, that’s great. That’s going to add some extra sort of gelatin into the mix.

That smell already is so magical.

All that brown stuff, that’s exactly what we want.

The flavour is intense.

Tomato paste has a huge amount of umami and savoury flavour.

That beef is so soft and tender.

That complete bone just falls out. Amazing.

Our braising liquid is now the most amazing, delightful gravy sauce consistency.

This is totally optional, but you guys know that I love my spice.

Ingredients

• oil
• beef short rib
• chuck steak
• salt
• onion
• garlic
• ginger
• Chinese Shaoxing wine
• soy sauce
• dark soy sauce
• brown sugar
• whole star anise
• cinnamon stick
• Chinese five spice
• tomato paste
• cornflour
• water
• Chinese egg noodles
• sesame oil
• cucumber
• spring onion
• chili oil

Instructions

1. First up, let’s talk about the beef. So I have a mixture of beef short rib and chuck steak for this one.
2. Alright, so first thing we need to do is add a little bit of oil.
3. I’m going to go into my saucepan here and I want to season each little piece of beef with a bit of salt.
4. I’m going to sear this beef in batches.
5. We’re just going to sear this beef until it’s nice and brown.
6. I’m going to add in just a little bit more oil because I didn’t get quite as much fat from that beef as I wanted.
7. And I’m going to add in some onion.
8. I use my wooden spoon to really start scraping up some of that flavour from the bottom of the pan.
9. I’m going to add in a little bit of garlic.
10. And just while those onions are softening up, I’m going to slice some ginger.
11. To get all of that stuff off the bottom of the pan, we’re going to deglaze it with some Chinese Shaoxing wine.
12. Really get in there with your spoon and lift off all of that flavour from the bottom.
13. At this point, I’m going to add my beef back in.
14. Don’t waste any of those resting juices. Get that in there as well.
15. Now for all the additional stuff. I want some soy sauce and some dark soy sauce.
16. And some brown sugar.
17. Now for the spices. So I’ve got some whole star anise and a cinnamon stick.
18. I’m using some of my homemade Chinese five spice.
19. A little sprinkling of that.
20. We’re going to put that in.
21. Get all of that lovely stuff mixed together.
22. Now lid on.
23. And just let that gently simmer away for about 90 minutes or until that beef is really full tender.
24. Let’s get these spices out first of all. I’ve got those two pieces of star anise.
25. And my cinnamon stick as well.
26. I want to take these bones out, obviously.
27. I just want some nice chunky bits of beef here. So I’m going to slice through this beef.
28. I’m going to add a little bit of cornflour and water.
29. Mix that together a little bit.
30. I just want that to simmer away for a couple more minutes until I get a really thick, luscious, glossy sauce.
31. I can see a little bit of the sort of beef fat and oil that’s accumulating on the top there. So I’ll just scoop some of that off.
32. I’m going to put all of that beef back in.
33. Now just stir all of that beef through.

Cooking Tips

The beef short rib has the bone, that’s great. That’s going to add some extra sort of gelatin into the mix.

The chuck steak, you’re really looking for some bits and pieces that have that nice marbling through the centre.

This searing part has nothing to do with sealing juices or anything like that. That’s just not the way, technically, food science-y way that cooking meat works. What we’re doing here though is we’re creating flavour.

Without getting all food science nerdy on you guys, that is what’s going to give us the extra in our dish.

I don’t want these guys to stew. I just want them to get really nice and caramelised and brown. That’s why I’m going to do it in batches.

All that brown stuff, that’s exactly what we want.

We’re going to deglaze the pan a bit later so you’ll see all of that lovely flavour will lift off the bottom.

If you’re not in a lot of Asian sections in regular supermarkets, or try your Asian grocer, it’s basically just getting that liquid into that bottom of the pan to lift off all that brown flavour.

A deep, dark colour.

You can find the video for that on my channel.

So this is not a traditional ingredient, but tomato paste has a huge amount of umami and savoury flavour.

It’s not really very much, but it’s easy to take off.

I just cooked them in some boiling water and just tossed them with some sesame oil so they didn’t get too sticky.

Serving Suggestions

To serve this up, I have some Chinese egg noodles.

And we want some of that amazing beef.

I want just a little bit of greenery and crunch. So I’m going to add some cucumber on the side.

I want a little sprinkling of some spring onion on the top.

This is totally optional, but you guys know that I love my spice. So I’m using some of my homemade chili oil just to finish off with some extra epic flavor.