Taiwanese Beef Stew

December was a busy month. I traveled, worked, traveled, and played. It has been fun, but I am ready to embrace 2017 with these resolutions: read more, write more, and draw more.

So let me start 2017 with my favourite authentic Taiwanese beef stew.

My grandpa used to make this beef stew with homemade noodles as a quick meal for me when I was little. In my many years living in North America, I never found any restaurant that served a beef stew similar to the one my grandpa made.

Until I found this recipe.

When I said authentic, that means it’s not North Americanized. So if you would like to try the flavour but prefer different cuts of meat, you can substitute them for the beef shank that I use.

This serves approximately 5-6.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs beef shank
• 6 slices ginger
• 2 green onions
• 6 garlic cloves, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 tomato, diced

Spices:

• 1 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp spicy bean paste
• 1 tbsp Sichuan pepper corns
• 2 tsp sugar
• 3 star anise
• 2 bay leaf
• 3 tbsp rice wine
• olive oil

Instructions:

1. In a big pot, add approximately 3 Qt. of water, the beef shank, ginger, green onion, and 1 tbsp rice wine. Bring it to boil. Use a spoon to take out all the bubbles(Important!). Save the beef broth for later.
2. Remove the cooked meat from the broth, let it cool, and cut it into cubes.
3. In another pot, heat the olive oil, and add the Sichuan pepper corns, garlic cloves, onion, and tomato. Cook it on low heat for 1-2 mins until the onion softens. Stir it frequently.
4. Add spicy bean paste, sugar, soy sauce, and the rest of rice wine. Cook it for 1-2 mins.
5. Add the beef to the pot. Cook it for another 1-2 mins.
6. Add the beef broth, star anise, and bay leaf. Bring it to boil and simmer it for 1 hour.
7. Turn the heat off. Put the lid on. Let it sit overnight in room temperature.

Tips:

• Make sure you let it sit for a day or so. The beef becomes tender and soft.
• In Taiwan, we serve this beef stew with noodles as beef noodle soup. The noodles I often see are somewhat close to the shape of linguine. You can certainly serve it with different grains like rice, or quinoa.