The stomach gets what the stomach wants - Fast Hainanese Beef Noodles a la Han

I've been having an immense craving for beef noodles from Singapore. no, not beef pho, not beef stir fry with noodles, but rice noodles with a thick herby sauce with tripe, beef balls and tender slivers of beef. Ang Mo Kio style.

Alas, I searched the aisles of the supermarket and peered at asian menus with a pang of longing. To no avail. To be honest, I am rather baffled that I have not seen this on any menu in London so if anyone's seen it. Please let me know!!

Anyhow, I did the next best thing (which was the first thing I should have done anyway) -- I trawled the internet for recipes. Strangely enough, they were few and far between, with one potential. Thank you so much kitchencapers, it was god send. Due to some pantry deficiencies, I didn't have all the ingredients, or my ideal bits of la vache. Nonetheless, I have to say, my stomach went to bed a very happy camper last night.

This recipe serves two.

Ingredients for stock

1. 400 g beef (I suggest a mix of shin + tripe but this requires a much longer cooking time. I didn't have either in my local supermarket so i bought beef mince - see below) + abt 600ml of beef stock (either from boiling the shin + tripe for 2 hrs, or for a quick fix, use an organic beef stock cube).

2. 1 large white onion and 2 cloves of garlic

3. 1/3 cup light soy sauce

4. 1/4 cup dark soy sauce

5. one cinammon stick

6. 5 cloves

7.5 spice powder. the recipe called for 2-3 aniseeds but again, my local was somewhat, deficient.

8. 1 tbps peppercorns (white or black)

9. a handful of wolfberries (about 15)

10. half a pack of salted mustard greens (rinsed and chopped)

11. one cup full of fresh coriander (chopped and as much as u like really)

12. bean sprouts.

13. vermicelli.

Ingredients for beef balls

1. 400g mince

2. half a thumb of fresh ginger (grated or pound)

3. a soup spoon of rice wine

4. 1 tsp of light soy sauce

5. white pepper

To do:

- Drizzle some oil in and sweat the chopped up onion and garlic in the stock pot over medium heat for about 8 minutes till translucent. chuck in wolfberries, cloves (and aniseed if u have them and if u don't, 1 tsp of five spice powder) and cinnamon stick. wait 20 seconds.

- pour in the soy sauce both light and dark, drop in the stock cube at this point and fill with 600 ml of water / pour in the beef stock. Once it is brought to a boil, bring it to a low simmer.

- to work the beef balls, mix in the ginger, rice wine, soy sauce and white pepper into the beef. Press with hands and shape into balls, 1 inch in diameter. this makes about 20 beef balls. cling wrap and pop it in the fridge. if you're not a fan of beef balls, you can use sliced beef. marinate in the same way but instead of using grated ginger, you can try using ginger juice. some people use bicarbonate of soda to tenderise the meat but i personally find that unnecessary.

- these will marinate for about 15mins.

- take the cinnamon stick out of the stock pot at this point.

While waiting.....

- chop up mustard greens, coriander, and some fresh chilli padi (I miss very much the tangy vinegery chilli sauce! i think vietnamese chilli sauce is probably the best substitute here).

- blanche rice vermicelli in boiling water and let it sit for 5 minutes (i used half a pack). Drain water.

- blanch beansprouts in boiling water for 90 secs (if you prefer you can have it uncooked. i'm not a big fan).

Clean kitchen.

By now, the soup would have cooked for about half an hour and ought to have reduced by a third. Drop in the beef balls and cook them till they all rise to the top of the pot. Remove immediately and set aside.

Bring it up to high heat to boil for another 10 minutes and drain through fine mesh sieve (lesson learnt from chewing on cloves). Place pot back on hob and if you'd like your sauce nice and thick, stir in some potato starch (pls add only tsp by tsp and stir in to break all the lump each time, until you achieve your desired consistency).

Assemble noodles, sprouts, beef balls, sauce, mustard greens, coriander and chilli.

Sounds like lots to do? believe me, it was a mere 45 min job! and it was well worth the work.