Chinese Cinnamon Beef Noodle Soup

Mom4Life's Note:

This was published in a Fine Cooking magazine a couple of years ago. I was so excited to have found a relatively easy yet very flavorful noodle soup for my family. My husband (the ultimate food critic) loves this and doesn't mind eating it for days. He says it reminds him of when he was in Taiwan. High praise, indeed! Packaged stewing beef is often made up of irregularly shaped pieces from different cuts, so I cut my own stew meat using a boneless chuck roast or two 3/4 inch thick chuck steaks.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 4.92 ml vegetable oil
• 3 cinnamon sticks (about 3 inches each)
• 6 scallions, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed
• 29.58 ml fresh ginger, minced
• 7.39 ml anise seeds
• 7.39 ml asian chili paste
• 1656.13 ml water
• 946.36 ml low sodium chicken broth
• 118.29 ml soy sauce
• 59.14 ml rice vinegar
• 1133.98 g boneless beef chuck
• 255.14 g fresh udon noodles (or 6 ounces dried)
• 680.38 g bok choy
• 118.29 ml fresh cilantro leaves

Directions:

1. Cut beef chuck into 3/4 in thick chunks if you did not purchase precut stewing beef.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. When very hot, add the cinnamon, scallions, garlic, ginger, anise seeds, and chile paste; cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
3. Add the water, broth, soy sauce, and vinegar; bring to boil over high heat.
4. Add the meat and bring to vigorous simmer. Lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, partially covered, until the meat is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours, checking to be sure that the soup doesn''t boil or stop simmering.
5. Shortly before the soup is done, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the noodles according to package directions until just tender. Drain and rinse under cold water.
6. When the meat is tender, remove the cinnamon sticks. Add the bok choy to the soup and simmer until the stalks are crisp-tender and the greens are very tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the noodles and let them warm through. Serve immediately, garnished with the cilantro leaves.
7. I'm guessing on the serving size as I no longer follow the recipe. I use the ingredient list as a guide.

Reviews

[Kayori]

This was absolutely amazing soup! My BF loves cinnamon, and this had just the right amount. He was surprised at how good it was. We didn't have any anise seeds, so I used a teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice powder and it worked wonderfully. Definitely a keeper!

[iris5555]

This is just so good, but it's pretty salty if you don't use low sodium soy sauce or broth!

[lolablitz]

I had really high hopes for this recipe - it made my kitchen smell wonderful while cooking. I cooked it exactly as written. The flavor just didn't deliver though. My DH thought it was good, and me just ok. I was really disappointed it didn't have the spark of flavors that it smelled like while cooking, Hoping it's better re-heated tomorrow.