Meat mains
Chilli beef noodle soup
This beef noodle soup recipe is soothingly lovely. The list of ingredients looks lengthy, but plenty are likely to be in the cupboard. If you want a quicker, weeknight version, you can get away with leaving out the half-hour marinating time. You could also try substituting the beef for pork or chicken and the veg for whatever you have lurking in the fridge. Pak choi and thinly sliced mushrooms works particularly well.
Ingredients
for the broth
- 1.25 litres of vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp miso
- 1 large knob of fresh ginger, chopped or grated into matchsticks
- 2 dried chillies
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ tbsp cooking sake (optional)
for the marinated beef
- 200g beef escalope
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sweet chilli dipping sauce
for the soup
- 150g packet medium noodles
- 300g selection of crisp seasonal veg and herbs (Calabrese broccoli, sugar snaps, French beans, red peppers, spring onions, spinach, coriander, flat leaf parsley, etc.)
Method
main
-
Step 1
Gently simmer all the broth ingredients on a low heat for about an hour. Sieve and discard the solids. Taste and adjust the seasoning. If you have any cooking sake, a couple of tablespoons might help but what you want is a balanced background flavour – there are plenty of additions to come.
For the beef
-
Step 1
bash out the escalope with a rolling pin (the thinner the better) and cut into ribbons. Mix with the soy sauce and sweet chilli dipping sauce and marinade in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
To make the soup
-
Step 1
break noodles into manageable lengths and tear or chop the veg into bite-sized chunks. Bring the broth to the simmer, add the noodles and veg, turn up the heat to bring back to the simmer.
-
Step 2
After a couple of minutes, add the beef (without most of the marinade), finally sprinkle over the chopped spring onions, herbs and leaves.
-
Step 3
Eat immediately before the noodles go soggy.
