Chinese Pickled Cabbage (A Quick Pickle Recipe)

INGREDIENTS
Pickling mix

• 1 1/2 cups rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cloves garlic , smashed
• 4 red chili peppers more if desired (Optional)
• 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns (Optional)

Prep

• 1 lbs (450 g) cabbage (about half of a small head of cabbage)
• Carrots & Daikon strips
• 2 tablespoons salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine the rice vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and chili peppers in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until it reaches a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Use a clean spoon to taste the pickling liquid to see if it has the desired spice level. You can simmer it for a bit longer if you want the liquid to taste spicier. Once done, set aside and allow to cool.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the veggies. Cut out the cabbage core and discard it. Tear the leaves into bite-size pieces. Cut the carrot an daikon into 1/4" strips.
3. Combine the cabbage, carrots, daikon and 2 tablespoons of salt in a big bowl. Toss it with your hands so the veggies are coated with salt. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, up to 1 hour (no more than an hour).
4. Drain and discard the salted water released by the veggies. Rinse the veggies with tap water twice. Drain thoroughly, and squeeze out the excess water from the veggies. Transfer them into a large container (or a jar).
5. Add the crushed garlic and Sichuan peppercorns (if using) into the same container.
6. Add the cooled pickling liquid. Press the veggies so they are submerged in the liquid. It is fine if a small fraction of the veggies are poking out from the liquid (because the veggies will shrink over time and become submerged). Seal the container and allow to pickle for 3 days in the fridge.
7. The pickles will start to taste good after 1 day, but the sourness will come through at day 3. Make sure to use clean chopsticks (or flatware) to pick out the pickles every time you serve them. They will stay good in the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks.

Based on: https://omnivorescookbook.com/chinese-pickled-cabbage/

Spicy Beef Noodle Soup

(or try this)

Ingredients

• 16 cups cold water (3.8L)
• 6 slices ginger
• 3 scallions (washed and cut in half)
• 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine
• 3 lbs beef chuck (1.3 kg, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks)
• 3 tablespoon oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns
• 2 heads garlic (peeled)
• 1 large onion (cut into chunks)
• 5 star anise
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup spicy bean paste
• 1 large tomato (cut into small chunks)
• 1/2 cup light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 large piece of dried tangerine peel
• fresh or dried wheat noodles of your choice
• Chopped scallion and cilantro (to garnish)

Instructions

1. You’ll need two large pots to make this recipe. Fill one large stock pot with 16 cups of cold water. Add the ginger, scallions, Shaoxing wine and beef chunks. Cover and bring to a boil. Immediately turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. After that, turn off the heat and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in another stock pot or large wok over medium low heat, and add the Sichuan peppercorns, garlic cloves, onion, star anise and bay leaves. Cook until the garlic cloves and onion chunks start to soften (about 5 - 10 minutes). Stir in the spicy bean paste. Then add the tomatoes and cook for two minutes. Finally, stir in the light soy sauce and sugar. Turn off the heat.
3. Now, let’s scoop out the beef, ginger, and scallions from the 1st pot and transfer them to the 2nd pot. Then, pour in the stock through a fine mesh strainer. Place the pot over high heat, and add in the tangerine peel. Cover and bring the soup to a boil. Immediately turn the heat down to a simmer, and cook for 60-90 minutes.
4. After simmering, turn off the heat, but keep the lid on, and let the pot sit on the stove (with the heat off) for another full hour to let the flavors meld together. Your soup base is done. Remember to bring the soup base to a boil again before serving. As an optional step, pick out the beef and strain the soup if you’d like to remove the spices and aromatics from the broth.
5. Cook your noodles in a separate pot according to the package instructions, and divide among your serving bowls (you can get 8 generous servings out of your pot of soup and beef). Top the bowls with hot broth, beef, scallions, and cilantro. Serve piping hot!

Note: If you still have leftover stock and beef, you can freeze it and reheat for future meals.

From: https://thewoksoflife.com/spicy-beef-noodle-soup/

Braised Beef Noodle Soup (红烧牛肉面)

(Still work in progress)

Ingredients

• 2 small pieces Chinese (cassia) cinnamon (5 grams)
• 2 black cardamom pods (草果) (5 grams)
• ½ tablespoon fennel seeds
• 4 star anise pods
• 10 cloves
• 1 dried tangerine peel
• 6 bay leaves
• ½ tablespoon whole white peppercorns
• 4 slices licorice root (甘草片) (甘草, gan-cao, 7 grams) (sub: use more star anise)
• 2 pieces sand ginger (山奈／沙姜) (山奈／沙姜, shan-nai / sha-jiang, 6 grams) (sub: galangal or ginger)
• 10 pieces dried amomum white cardamom (白寇) (白寇, bai-kou, 3 grams)
• 3 pounds beef chuck (680g, cut into large chunks)
• 16 cups water
• 5 slices ginger
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 15 grams rock sugar
• 5 scallions (with the white and green parts separated)
• 1 whole head of garlic (cloves peeled but kept whole)
• ¼ cup Shaoxing wine
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• ¼ cup light soy sauce
• Salt  and soy sauce (to taste)
• Noodle of your choice
• Leafy greens of your choice (spinach, romaine lettuce, choy sum, and bok choy are all good)
• Handful of chopped cilantro (optional)

Instructions

1. First place the aromatics in a piece of cheesecloth tied tightly with kitchen string or disposable/fillable tea filter bags. That’s the cinnamon, black cardamom, fennel seeds, star anise, cloves, tangerine peel, bay leaves, white peppercorns, licorice slices, sand ginger, and amomum white cardamon. Phew. It’ll be worth it. Trust me.
2. Next, rinse off the beef under cold running water. In a soup pot, add 16 (14?) cups of water, the ginger, and beef. Bring to a boil and cook for a few more minutes until you see some foam floating on the top of the water. Skim the foam off. You don’t want these impurities from the beef making your soup cloudy. Turn off the heat, fish out the pieces of beef, and strain the resulting broth through a fine-meshed strainer, into a heatproof bowl or other pot. Set aside, along with the ginger pieces.
3. In another large, thick-bottomed soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the rock sugar, the white parts of the scallion, and the garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the scallions are lightly seared. Add the beef, turn up the heat, and mix everything well.
4. Cook for about 5 minutes, and stir once or twice in between. Now add the Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce, and stir everything together well so that the beef is coated in the soy sauce.
5. Now add the aromatics, plus the daikon, and the broth and ginger pieces that you boiled the beef in. Bring everything to a boil and immediately turn the heat down to medium. Simmer for 90 minutes (try w/lid off, or start w/less water). The broth should be steadily simmering where you can see water moving in the pot, but not at a rolling boil.
6. After 90 minutes, turn off the heat and let it stand (with the lid on) for another hour. Now your soup base is ready. Reheat, remove the aromatics, and add salt to taste before serving. Just remember, adding salt too early will dry out the beef.
7. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions, strain, and transfer to a large serving bowl. Blanch a handful of your leafy greens of choice in the noodle water, and add it to the noodles. Then, ladle in the beef and the soup. Top with the chopped green parts of the scallions you set aside earlier and some chopped cilantro (optional). And if you really can’t resist a bit of spice, add a spoonful of chili oil.

Adapted from: https://thewoksoflife.com/braised-beef-noodle-soup/