Soup Noodle With Beef Sauce

We met Peiling and Haosheng Lin in New Mexico when our kids were babies. Haosheng was an astronomer at Sunspot, and his wife Peiling was the perfect wife and mother who knew everything. She put together Marissa & Christopher’s first Easter Egg hunt. When she found out that I didn’t know how to make this basic soup noodle, she taught me the following recipe (which I’ve tweaked a bit to incorporate every day household ingredients). This soup noodle makes Marissa & Christopher very happy.

BEEF SAUCE

1 pound ground beef

2 to 3 heaping tablespoons rock sugar (OK to substitute white sugar, but the rock sugar is the secret ingredient passed down from older generations)

Soy sauce to taste (the sauce should be salty to flavor the noodles)

1 to 2 Tbsp wine

1 tsp five-spice powder, or more to taste

½ cup chicken stock

Brown the ground beef, then add the other sauce ingredients. Heat on high until all the rock sugar has melted. Set aside.

NOODLES

Cook 1 pound of thick noodles such as fettuccine or Chinese noodles.

SOUP

1 large carton chicken stock (~ 48 oz)

1 package fish balls(optional)

Leafy vegetables (such as watercress, Nappa cabbage, bean sprouts, or even a bag of mixed lettuce-find dark green ones if possible)

Shrimp (optional)

Handful of cilantro to taste

Heat the chicken stock to boil. Add fish balls if using. When fish balls are cooked, add vegetables. When vegetables are almost cooked, add shrimp (if using) and cilantro. Cook just until shrimp turns pink.

Assemble soup by putting noodles in a bowl, add the soup, then a few tablespoons of the beef sauce on top.