This Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup, also known as Niu Rou Mian is not how my internal schema for a soup usually looks. I must admit, I tend to automatically be a bit of a boring British soup traditionalist – vegetables and stock, seasoned, cooked, and blitzed. Probably served with crusty bread. (Like with Deliciously Ella’s Creamy Vegan Mushroom Soup that I made recently). This dish is so much heartier than that.
Enter, The Food of Taiwan…
Cathy Erway’s book, The Food of Taiwan, which this recipe is from (page 132), is quite frankly incredible. I have never had the joy of visiting Taiwan, but something about this book really feels like a lot of love went into it and the recipe is easy to follow and read.
Cubed stewing meat which I acquired from my local butcher, is seared in vegetable oil, then stewed alongside a delicious myriad of aromatics – ginger, garlic, spring onions, red chillies, tomatoes, sugar, chilli bean sauce, rice wine, light and dark soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorns, five spice, and star anise. Oh, and water!! And like with most soups, the biggest ingredient is time…
After 3 hours of waiting, occasionally lovingly skimming scum from its surface, it was ready to serve. I paired mine with Taiwanese knife cut noodles from Sous Chef which cooked in a mere 7 minutes, and sauteed baby bok choi, and topped with sliced spring onions.
Cathy Erway was right!
Above the recipe, as part of a small blue paragraph detailing the possible historical origins of the dish, Cathy writes:
Some call it [Beef Noodle Soup] Taiwan’s “national dish”, while others argue that Danzai Noodle Soup is more representative of older, more traditional Taiwanese cuisine. Regardless, its deeply savory, delicious broth has made it a popular favourite on the island, and amongst visitors too.
Cathy Erway, The Food of Taiwan
Cathy was definitely correct – it is delicious. There is such a wonderful depth of flavour to this soup that it really feels like it can heal whatever ails you. The rich umami stock warms your belly and soul and the baby bok choy provides an uplifting freshness to the dish. You may notice on the photo above that there are little pools of oil on the surface of the soup – these gave me immense explosions of flavour when I brought the bowl to my lips. Amazing.
I must admit though, I did reduce the amount of chilli bean paste from 1 tablespoon to half that amount. Something about the 3 chilli heat warning on the side of the jar made me very wary, and personally, I know I was right to be cautious. The soup was still spicy enough to tingle my lips, but not so spicy that steam came out of my ears!
Overall, I give this recipe for Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup 5 stars, even though I have a couple of qualms. 1) The recipe involved a lot of converting on my part as Cathy uses measurements like quarts and pounds, and 2) the full amount of chilli bean paste might’ve made my head explode. Let me know if you make this properly and if you can handle the heat!
One last recommendation…
Please use good quality, local beef when making this recipe. Not only will it taste considerably better than mass-produced, shrink-wrapped produce, but the reduced food miles are better for the environment. You don’t need to be plant-based to think about responsible food choices!
