Chinese Tomato Beef Noodle Soup with Mushrooms

Braised beef for tomato noodle soup

1. Making tomato beef noodle soup at home is not hard, although it takes time. My daughter and I had wanted to make this wonder for a long time, but never got around to it. She loved this noodle soup in China, so we tried to make it as close to the original as possible, using local ingredients. Luckily, everything is available now. To prepare the ingredients, you need to braise the meat with sauces and spices, boil the mushrooms and noodles separately, and prepare the broth, all at the same time.

   Beef is the most important ingredient. The tastier the meat you make, the tastier the soup. For this soup we took a piece of lean shoulder and a bone-in entrecote. But you can use tenderloin, round, or meaty ribs, which will give the broth extra flavor.

   

   Take a large pot with a lid. We use a ceramic pot, which holds heat beautifully at minimal heating. As a result, the liquid in it can stay right at the edge of a simmer, which matters for getting a good, juicy piece of meat.

2. Put the beef in the pot and add the sauces and spices. For 0.8-1 kg of beef, add a quarter cup of sweet mirin, 1 tbsp each of light and dark soy sauce, and 2 tbsp sugar (27 g). Don’t add salt, because soy sauce is noticeably salty. Also peel and add 5-6 garlic cloves, which is half a head. Peel a 50-60 g piece of ginger root, cut it into strips and add it. Add the white parts of 1-2 green onions, 2 bay leaves, 4-5 cloves, 2 star anise, a whole nutmeg and 1-2 dried chili pods.

   

3. Add cold water to the pot so that the level is above the meat, and braise the beef for about two hours. Put the pot on the heat. When the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat to the minimum that still keeps it simmering and cover the pot with the lid. Turn the pieces of meat over in the liquid from time to time. The meat is done when it is tender.

   

4. Pour off all the liquid, as you don’t need it. Let the pieces of meat cool a little, remove all the bones, and cut the meat or tear it into pieces with your fingers.

   

How to cook the mushrooms and noodles for tomato soup

1. As a rule, this soup uses local tree mushrooms that are grown artificially. Most often it is enoki, the winter mushroom, which you can buy even here. Shimeji work well too, as do honey mushrooms, which are sold here and don’t have to be of Asian origin. Shiitake are too large for the soup, so use them at your own discretion.

2. Cook the mushrooms. Rinse them, cover them with water or chicken broth, bring to a boil and cook for up to 10 minutes. Then use the broth for the soup; if you used water, pour it off and transfer the mushrooms to a plate.

   

3. Boil the noodles you’ve chosen in plain water. It is best to cook them shortly before serving, since they go into the bowls freshly cooked and hot. Heat a large amount of water, add the noodles once it boils and cook until done, following the time on the package. Be sure to stir them so they don’t stick together. By the way, chopsticks are handy for stirring, so give them a try.

   

Preparing the tomato broth for the soup

1. For the soup base we use chicken broth, which is made separately. Our freezer always has plastic bags of ready broth. Buy a chicken or part of one; “broth sets” are often sold. Boil it in water with dried vegetables and a minimum of spices. Cool the broth, pour it into small bags of 2 cups each and freeze. For this soup we took two bags, about 800 ml of broth.

2. Combine the tomatoes with the broth. Puree the canned tomato pulp with a blender, pour it into a pot and heat to a boil. Add the chicken broth to the tomatoes and bring to a boil once more.

   

Serving

1. The soup is convenient to serve in a large, deep bowl. It differs from the familiar borscht, in which everything cooks together, in that the “solid” components are placed in the bowl separately and covered with broth.

2. Prepare the toppings for the soup, most of them optional. The only essential one is cilantro: chop it coarsely with a knife. If you like, slice the green onion tops and cut a lime into wedges. Slice fresh chili into thin rings. Put all the toppings in separate dishes to bring to the table.

   

3. Put the prepared beef in each bowl. Next to it, add the freshly cooked hot noodles and the mushrooms. If the mushrooms are long, you can cut them in half.

   

4. Ladle the tomato broth over the meat, mushrooms and noodles. When serving, pour in the broth so that the main ingredients stay visible and don’t float in the soup. Add the chopped cilantro. Serve the soup with chopsticks and a small spoon. At the table, everyone adds lime juice, hot pepper and green onion to their own taste.

   

   I admit that I like spicy soups, and I make this one hotter by adding coarsely ground chili with the seeds. That is personal, and you can do as you like. Eat the soup hot: use the chopsticks for the meat, mushrooms and noodles, and the spoon for the tomato broth. Though you can simply drink the last of the broth.