Wonderland Beef Noodle Soup

Ta -Da! Wonderland Beef Noodle Soup!


Albert was away this weekend to see team Canada win the men's hockey gold medal in his hometown of Vancouver. I made the best of this weekend by inviting some girlfriends over for a small gathering.

On the dinner menu was my homemade beef noodle soup. This is not too difficult to make at all; it just takes time. Here to share with you are some pictures and simple instructions.

The ingredients (rice wine, soy sauce, and rock sugar missed this group photo, sorry)

Click on the picture to see the labels on those Chinese sauces. You can buy them at most Asian grocery stores.

First, cook the beef, and a couple of slices of ginger in boiling water until the blood is out. Take the beef out.

Cook onions first on low heat until tender with some oil, and then add garlic, ginger, scallions, some rock sugar (or regular sugar), soy sauce, and two of those of Asian sauces -- Spicy Bean Paste and Sweet Starchy Paste.

Add the beef, carrot, radish (you don't have to add them if you don't like them) and continue to stir fry everything on medium heat. Add a generous amount of rice wine.

Add half of the tomatoes you want to cook and continue to cook until the tomatoes are almost dissolved.

Don't add any broth or water yet. Turn down the heat to low and cover the pot to cook for an hour. We want to cook the flavors into the meat, carrot, and radish. Depending on the pot you use, you might need to add water or stir it from time to time.

I have this super nice pot (a gift from Fen and Christy!!) that keeps most of the heat and liquid in, so no need to add water at all.

One hour later

Add chicken or beef broth and more tomatoes. Cook another 20 minutes.

Make noodles and veggies together to save time and space.

Season the soup with salt, pepper, sugar, or more water to taste.

Drain the noodles and veggies, add the beef soup.

Very important final steps: top with fresh scallions, cilantro, fresh tomato slices, white pepper, and some black seasame oil.



Ta -Da! Wonderland Beef Noodle Soup!

The result? Not super good, but not too bad either. A very safe and standard taste of Chinese beef noodle soup. If I can do it, I am sure you can do it even better.

Annisa, Here I come!

These days, I seem to have too many guilty pleasures. To follow up on the posting about The Fashion Show on Bravo TV, I would like to introduce another show to you -- Top Chef Masters .

In the show, 24 top chefs from around the country compete for $100,000 to donate to his or her favorite charity. In last weeks episode, the 6 winners from the previous 6 episodes competed against one another in an elimination challange. This Wednesday night, the 5 remaining top chefs will have to cook their hearts out to stay in the top 4. The chef I will be cheering for is Anita Lo.

Anita Lo is a second-generation Chinese American. She went to Columbia University, majoring in French. In her junior year in college, she went to Paris to study cooking and discovered her true calling. After briefly working at a restaurant, Chef Lo decided to return to Paris and earned a degree in cooking at the Ritz-Escoffier school. She graduated first in her class with honors.

Anito Lo's"Illusion" -- a braised daikon with kombu caviar & steak tartare that gave the illusion of a scallop

Reading about her background, seeing how she competes in the show, and how her personality contrasts that of the other media-friendly, outgoing, and famous chefs; I naturally became a fan of hers. She seems to not care much about what other people think of her, but she is obscessed with what people think of her food. She is so modest of her skills as a chef, that many of her competitors seem to overlook her as a strong contender. In the show, she says very few words, but the dishes she prepares do all the talking for her. As she was announced as the winner in last week's show, Anita barely cracked a smile, looked down in embarassment, and uttered a "thank you". One judge said of her dish, "One word. Genius."

I'm not quite sure of the exact reason, but Chinese students tend to not talk about how much they study before exams. They often lie or not admit to staying up all night to prepare for tests. I have this feeling that the night before last week's elimination challenge, Chef Lo spent the entire night thinking about, visualizing, and mentally preparing for the next day. Of course Chef Lo did not admit this to the camera, and so people may think it was all effortlessly done, purely with talent. I just know that she may certainly be a genius, but her work ethic and dedication was probably what distanced her from her competitors.

Anyways, I cannot believe I have never been to her restaurant when I lived in Manhattan. Next time when I am in town,"annisa" here I come!