Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

I know I have declared myself a lover of WeiWei Premium Instant Noodle products, but not any more ever since I started cooking my own Chinese Beef Noodle Soup from scratch! Making flavorful and rich soup base requires a lot of patience but was it worth all the time and effort!

What I like about cooking is the nature of its flexibility. There is no need to religiously follow the recipe, nor be meticulous with measuring ingredients. There is a certain freedom with cooking which one cannot enjoy so much in baking. Baking is like... having a baby; you won't ever truly know what it will look like until it comes out of the mother's womb. Cooking, on the other hand, is friendly and is more forgiving, like... a classic little black dress (claps for my analogy??)

My secret for ensuring a fail-proof first attempt at a new recipe, you ask? One word: research. 

I consulted three different sites as reference for the recipe: Tasty Meals at Home, Eat, Drink & Be Merry, Chezpei. Check all of them and pick one recipe you'd like to follow. Anyway, here are my tips for those of you who want to try making Chinese Beef Noodle Soup at home:

• The recipe calls for beef shanks. I believe what is more readily available in the supermarket is beef brisket. Ask the butcher to cut it for you, stew cut (or pang-nilaga)

• The recipe will also call for beef stock. Don't need to buy those that are in tetra packs or in can. Simply boil your beef brisket in water for an hour (I bought and used 1 kg), flavor lightly with salt and pepper. 

• Do not skip out on the following ingredients: star anise, chili bean paste (Lee Kum Kee), rice wine and soy sauce (use a good brand, like Kikkoman). I noticed how these four ingredients are vital to making the soup taste so rich and authentic. All these ingredients are available in the supermarket, don't worry.

• At Eat Drink & Be Merry procedure (3) where you let the soup base boil with the beef brisket / shank for 2-3 hours. I did a little trick.. I let all of them boil for an hour and a half (soup + beef) then transferred everything to a pressure cooker. I pressure cooked the soup base together with beef brisket for about 30 mins until the meat gets tender enough to cut with a fork. 

• I store everything in a big container once done, place it in the refrigerator to let the fats solidify overnight. Then the next morning, spoon out the chunks of fat or sebo for a less greasy soup. 

• I use egg noodles with medium strands. I think rice noodles (like those flat rice noodles served at vietnamese restaurants) is a good choice, too.

• Use Bok Choy because they look prettier than regular pechay

ENJOY!!! :)