Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup (niu/ ro\ mian\)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion: I sliced off the tail (?) end but left it intact at the top part so that the onion pieces can be discarded together later if so desired.
• 2-3 pieces of whole anise
• 2 pieces of cao/ guo^ (also known as dried tsaoko fruit, according to the internets...and possibly the same thing as black cardamom)
• a few bay leaves
• small hot peppers (if you want it to be spicy), leave whole
• 1.5 lb beef shank (niu/ jian\): you actually want the full, long piece (parallel to the bone), which you can only buy at Chinese supermarkets apparently, and the smallest/slimmest piece they've got for greater tenderness. The package I got most recently labeled in English as 'Beef Muscle.'
• soy sauce
• sugar
• carrots, bok choy, other vegetables etc.

Blanch the meat, whole, in hot water first, because American slaughterhouses don't let off the blood first. Then, you can either let it cool and refrigerate for later use, or place it into another pot of also hot water. It has to be either hot water if it's hot, or cold water (then bring to a boil) otherwise it messed with the taste of the meat. Don't use too much water here, just enough to cover the meat.

Either way, bring to a boil with the other ingredients up until the soy sauce (include any vegetables that need longer to cook, like carrots). Simmer for about 45-50 minutes. The meat should be cooked and at about the right texture after this, though without any flavor yet.

Let it cool and take out the beef. Slice it up lengthwise first, then cross-wise. This is the key secret step, as a lot of people slice up the meat at the very beginning but then the texture isn't as nice, it would feel more sandy.

(this pot probably has too much liquid in it)

Place beef slices back in the pot and add remaining flavoring ingredients to marinate (soy sauce, sugar). I don't have exact measurements on these yet, but start with about 1/3 cup on the soy sauce and 2 tbsp of sugar. It's safe to taste since the meat's all cooked. The color should be a dark brown and the flavor a little more intense than what you want the meat to end up tasting like.

Bring the stew to a boil again and simmer for 15 minutes or until the meat is tender. Check the soup for taste as well and adjust if needed.

Let the stew sit for at least 2 hours, overnight even if possible. Warm up with noodles and any other veggies desired, like bok choy, etc. This'll keep in the fridge up to 3 days, but cannot be frozen. The soup should be thick enough that it basically congeals in the fridge.

Family Dumplings/Wontons (jiao^ zi)

Feedback from roommate after tasting: 'D__ should marry you for these alone.'

Dipping sauce: this is worth making even for premade dumplings from the store. Super88 actually has pretty decent frozen pork wontons (their dumpling cousins are unfortunate, if I remember correctly, though).

• Soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• Sugar
• Optional: black vinegar, chili sauce

Filling sauces/spices:

• soy sauce: start out with 1 tbsp, preferable to be on the blander side since there's always the dipping sauce
  
• sesame oil: 2 tbsp (but I really like sesame oil)
  
• salt: 1 tsp
  
• sugar: 1 tbsp
  
• yellow cooking wine: a dash of this in the meat filling if you feel the need to get rid of the 'fishy' taste from meat (xing- wei\)
  

Meat filling:

• 2 lb. ground pork
• 2 eggs
• shrimp, peeled, de-veined, chopped
• large bunch of chives (not one of those pansy little things of herbs from American grocery stores, you need to go to an Asian supermarket to get a large amount. See photos), rinsed and green part minced. You should find these in the refrigerated greens section.
  

Beat the eggs, then mix into pork. My grandma also said to stir in an additional 2 small bowls of water to make the meat tender, but when I did it this past weekend with just 1, the filling got really soupy.

Anyway, then mix in chives and shrimp until evenly distributed, plus sauces.



Vegetarian filling:

• vermicelli noodles, soak until soft and then mince (these are tricky buggers)
• scrambled eggs, mince further if needed
• dried mushrooms (xiang- gu-), soak until soft and mince
• napa cabbage (da\ bai/ cai\), soften leaves in boiling water, squeeze out some of the water but make sure it's still sticky, and then chop

Mix together, plus sauces.

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Regardless of filling, make sure to make samples and test for taste so that you can go back and adjust filling as necessary before spending a lot of time making the dumplings.

Wrappers: need to get the from-scratch dumpling dough recipe. That results in a softer, more pliable wrapper that's much easier to make, but you need to spend additional time rolling out the dough and such. That's what young grandchildren are for.

But for from the supermarket, you can get round wrappers (for dumplings, to be boiled or pan-fried into potstickers with dipping sauce) or square wrappers (for wontons). We usually get the white ones, which these labels proclaim to be 'Shanghai-style,' but they only had 'Hong Kong-style' dumpling wrappers. You find these in the refrigerated/fresh noodles section, probably near where the tofu is.



There are probably videos on how to make the dumplings themselves. You need wrappers, filling, and a small bowl of water with a bit of starch in it, to seal the edges. Someday I may make a video of this process because it's weird.



Let's say you're actually done with it now, though. Two methods of cooking: boiling and pan-frying.

For boiling, throw the dumplings into boiling water. Let it come to a boil again, dump in some cold water to cool it off, and then once the dumplings are floating to the top, you're all done.

For pan-frying, using a non stick pan, spread or spray a little cooking oil to cover the bottom. Put dumplings in in a circle, starting from the outer side of the pan and going inward. Add water to about 1/2" high, cover the pan and let it cook for a about 5 min at medium heat.

Once the water has almost boiled off, use low heat and remove the cover. Let it cook for another few min at low heat until the bottom of the dumplings are golden brown. Move the pan around a little if needed so that the heat is distributed evenly to the entire bottom of the pan.

Scoop out dumplings to eat with dipping sauce, or put wontons in soup (well, you could make those directly in soup too).

Marinated Steak

This is the only kind of steak we make at home, and the only kind that I really like, now. A steak that is more than just, THIS TASTES LIKE MEAT. Although it still does, you know. Taste like meat. Mmm, meat.

Shown here with twice-baked potatoes and steamed string beans.

I believe this recipe actually came from a family friend's magazine clipping. So, no ancient secrets here, more of just an interesting Asian-ish twist on steak.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Italian dressing (my mom recommends Wish-Bone, but I just grabbed TJ's)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• thin-sliced ribeye steak (thinner = more tender, ribeye so that it has good swirls of fat throughout meat = delicousness)

Combine first four ingredients together for marinade, can put in ziplock bag or in tupperware to keep steak flat. Let marinate overnight.



Grill or pan fry until done to desired degree.