Authentic Chinese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe: Grandma’s Kitchen

Now that I live off-campus, I’ve realized how much I crave home cooking. I didn’t miss it while living off of dining hall food, but that’s probably because they distracted me with differently disguised fat.

While I’m trying to eat a balanced, temporarily-omnivorous diet (earlier this week I realized that I haven’t been eating enough protein), I try to find recipes that are more protein-based rather than carb-based. The good thing about this recipe is that it can be tweaked to reflect either!

Thankfully, my grandma’s taught me the Authentic Chinese Beef Noodle Soup recipe! And because I’m such a savvy cook (ha. ha.) I can cook this for myself anytime! I usually try not to eat red meat though, so maybe not.

(c) Chinese Grandma  Careful now, CG, there's a new grandma on the block.
(c) Chinese Grandma
Careful now, CG, there’s a new grandma on the block.

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup has always been a favorite dish of mine. Usually, Asian dishes are meant for everyone, to be shared and paired with a bowl of rice. However, when you ordered a bowl of Chinese Beef Noodle Soup, people knew you were serious about gettin’ your grub on. How could I have packed on the fat if not for this?

It’s simple and easily replicated so that you don’t have to go to a Chinese restaurant to get your Beef Noodle Soup fix! The next time you go to a Chinese restaurant, you can focus your taste buds on trying new dishes!

THE RECIPE 

Serving size: 4-5

Ingredients: 

ingredients: before
ingredients: before
  • Beef Shank [2 lb, chopped into pieces, usually large bite sizes. Remember: the smaller the piece, the quicker it cooks!]
  • Green Onion/Scallion [1 bunch, ends trimmed, chopped in half]
  • Garlic [1 whole bulb, peeled. You can choose to chop in large chunks]
  • Soy Bean Paste [1.5 tbsp]
  • Star anise [8 pieces] (optional)
  • Soy Sauce
  • Salt
  • Ginger [peeled, sliced 1/2 stem]
  • Sugar
  • Bacardi [2 ladles] (grandma’s special kick)

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Healthy: 

  • bunch of spinach

Directions: 

  1. Cover the bottom of the pot with vegetable oil and place garlic, ginger, and green onion in to sauté until the garlic is browned. Add the soy bean paste and stir, making sure it is evenly distributed.
    Grandma: “Browning the garlic makes the flavor come out. Smells good, right?”
    IMG_1181
  2. IMG_1170
  3. Add the beef shank pieces and stir, adding the 2 ladles of Bacardi in while doing so.
    IMG_1185
  4. As the beef is browning on the outside, first add 2-3 ladles of soy sauce. Then 2 tbsp of sugar.
    Grandma: “Taste it to see if you like it!”
    Me: But… the beef isn’t fully cooked ye—ok.
    IMG_1186
  5. Add 4 cups of water, or however much gives you the ratio of meat to soup that you like. Add a few more ladles of soy sauce, to taste. If still not to taste, or, if you’re a poor college student like me, add some salt because that soy sauce ain’t cheap. And we don’t use it often enough to get the huge Chinese family economy size.
    IMG_1187

For the rest of the recipe, click [HERE]

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Buying and Cooking for One

EGGS

Eggs are a staple for college students. I once ate scrambled eggs for dinner and no, it wasn’t part of a weight-loss strategy although it was a pleasant side effect. In fact, as meals go for college students, that’s considered putting effort into a meal. I mean, I had to light the stovetop and everything!

After coming back from the foodtopia that was winter break and my mom’s cooking, I was used to the unlimited variety of food that magically spring up on the dinner table. I’m onto you, mom. At the end of last semester, my first semester of living off-campus, I felt wholly capable of putting something together quickly that people would loosely refer to as food. Call it an effect of my New Year Resolutions, but I wasn’t satisfied with the 5 meals I rotated throughout the semester.

Just a glimpse of my kitchen prowess:

  • Mac n’ Cheese (a comfort food staple in our household. During finals week, our house was making this every day of the week)
  • Salad
  • Grilled cheese (are we seeing a theme yet?)
  • Canned soup
  • Scrambled Eggs
  • Spaghetti

Maybe I lied about 5 meals. I had 6! And here I was thinking I was completely incapable.

As you can expect, I got pretty bored of my meals by the end of last semester. So what did I do? Not the healthy thing, that’s for sure. You can always bet that my likelihood of choosing a bad decision is indirectly related to how healthy the alternative is. Instead of looking up new recipes to try for myself, I basically ordered delivery three times a week, which they make so easy here by compiling all restaurants on one website for ordering online.

Not only was that cost-ineffective, I gained mad weight (see New Year Resolutions). So I decided to cook one new recipe every single week.

But how could I satisfy my taste for variety, my budget, and my weight loss goals? Not to mention, the fact that I’m still a full-time student.

The key to all these is versatility

Yes, if you start from scratch (that means no stealing from your parents’ ingredient supply), it can seem financially daunting for frequently used spices such as cinnamon, cumin, and garlic salt. Secondly, if you have too much variety—I call this overambitious—you’ll drain all your money buying all different kinds of ingredients for the 50 recipes you’re tackling that week.

Remember, as it is with weight loss, you must start small to be able to change and stay on top of things.

So, versatility. If one of your big new recipes you decide to try that week calls for chicken breast, make sure you have other uses for the chicken breast! For example, this week, I’m going to try this Orange Chicken recipe and halving everything because although sometimes I do feel like I have 4 mouths to feed (my appetite), I don’t. Usually, it’s cheaper to buy things in larger sizes, but when cooking for yourself, you may find yourself wasting the rest of your food if you don’t know how else to use it. So, with the leftover chicken breast, I would put them on top of salads or make some chicken stir-fry.

Once, I had a hardcore craving for the pre-cooked Rotisserie Chicken that Meijer sells, so I went ahead and bought it because I knew there were so many other uses for the chicken! The legs and thighs I ate normally because that dark meat is just that good. But the breast I used for the Buffalo Chicken tacos!

shopping
Don’t let your cart look like this!

This goes with bread and fresh produce items as well. Sure, those pita pocket things look great, but can you use them for more than one thing? Use something more versatile, like tortillas or wraps. Those, you can make with tacos, quesadillas, sandwich wraps, breakfast burritos… you get my gist. And the salad packs of mixed greens? Sure, if you like eating salad 24/7. Most people don’t. And the people who do are weight-conscious and either have no time or have no clue how else to eat healthily. Romaine, on the other hand, can be chopped thinly for tacos, or broken in halves for sandwich lettuce!

Having multiple uses for one item also scales down that number at the bottom of your receipt. You are welcome ;)

Versatility. 

Another thing is, don’t waste your time! That doesn’t mean to only look for meals that take 10 minutes or less, but to make the most meal out of your time cooking it. If you’re going to cook, it may as well last for a few meals. So, instead of cooking in single portions, go ahead and make the recipe that serves 2-3. Tupperware those for later in the week. This will spice up the variety and, if you’re in one of those EAT EVERYTHING IN SIGHT moods, this will help restrain you from diving for the delivery guy’s number. And not because he’s hot.

When you’re just starting out, make sure you have some staples to throw together when you realize that you don’t have as much time as you thought. My staples include a salad, sandwich, soup, or leftovers. See? Easy items for when you just can’t bother.

As for the ingredients that you just don’t have lying around in your pantry, don’t worry about breaking bank (which sounds like a name-parody of Breaking Bad for a cooking/finance show). Buy them one at a time. A few here, a few there, all while staying within your budget. This totally corresponds to your slow start into the cooking world. Tackle easier recipes first, ones that call for less ingredients than the fancier ones. In no time, you’ll find that you have all the spices you need!

“Cooking for one” can be such a downer term, but it’s actually really fun. I found that I could have restaurant-esque food at my fingertips and have more satisfaction in the cooking process! It’s easier to watch what you eat as well if you eat out less and you have more control of your portions and the amount of fat you put into your diet.

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