Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup SERVES 4 PREP 20 MINUTES COOK 2 HOURS

You can use a pressure cooker to speed up the cooking of this iconic Taiwanese dish or make it on the weekend when you can putter around the kitchen and take in all the lovely smells. Toban jiang, the fermented broad bean paste, adds a spicy, salty kick and is worth seeking out. Buy it online or visit your local Asian store.

2 tbsp vegetable oil 900 g (2 lb) beef shin 5 garlic cloves, sliced 2 onions, quartered 4 cm (11/2 inch) ginger, chopped 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns 1 tsp fennel seeds 3 whole star anise 1 tbsp red chilli flakes 2 tbsp toban jiang (hot chilli bean paste) 1 tbsp black vinegar 1 tbsp soft brown sugar 4 tomatoes, cut in chunks 125 ml (41/2 fl oz) light soy sauce 125 ml (41/2 fl oz) Shaoxing rice wine 250 g (9 oz) Chinese egg noodles 4 baby bok choy, halved, or Chinese broccoli (gai larn), cut in chunks chopped spring onions (scallions), to serve

Add the vegetable oil to a large pan with a fitted lid. Slice the beef shin into 4 cm (1½ inch) pieces. Brown the meat pieces and then add the garlic, onion and ginger and let soften for 5 minutes.

Roughly grind the peppercorns and fennel seeds, then add to the meat with the star anise, chilli flakes, hot bean paste, black vinegar, soft brown sugar, tomatoes, soy and rice wine. Pour about 1 litre (34 fl oz) water into the pan so that the meat is covered by about 3 cm (11/4 inches) of water.

Place the lid on and let the soup simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes or up to 2 hours on the lowest heat possible. Stir every 20–30 minutes so that it doesn’t stick. When the meat is fall-apart tender, it’s done.

Alternatively, you can place everything at this point in a pressure cooker and cook on high for 30 minutes. The opposite can be done with a slow cooker – cook on the low setting for 8 hours or the high setting for 4 hours. Your oven can be used too – cook in a preheated 170°C (325°F) or 150°C (300°F) fan forced oven for 2 hours.

Boil the noodles until al dente, adding the greens in the last minute. Drain and place in four bowls.

Pour the stock/sauce over and top with the meat. Sprinkle the spring onions over to serve.

My Asian Kitchen by Jennifer Joyce (Murdoch Books, £20). Photography by Phil Webb.