This Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, with homemade hand pulled noodles, will leave your tummy happy and your taste buds dancing with a fragrant broth packed with garlic, star anise, ginger and numbingly warm Sichuan peppercorns.
One of the dishes on my China travel bucket list was a Lanzhou Beef Lamian soup. I saw so many videos about lamian, aka hand pulled noodles, I was dying to taste them. It is said that for a person to be considered a master at lamian, they should practice the craft for about 10 years. When I finally got my bowl I was blown away by the soft and silky feel of the noodles and the lovely broth. I could see a lot of love and technique went into making the lamian. I had to try my hand at it and I chose a lovely spicy beef noodle soup to accompany these flat hand pulled noodles.
To be honest, this is the second time I make this spicy beef noodle soup and my second try at the lamian noodles, a flat version as it is easier to learn this way. I was a little impatient and I tried to make some before my trip. So, yeah, my first attempt was a total disaster. I did manage to salvage my dough by making flat hand pulled noddles. If you want a good laugh, here is a video of my first attempt!
This is my second try and I was a lot more successful with this noodle recipe. Perfection, they are very far from, but I made a lot of progress from my first try. I even captured the beginning of a hint of that silky smooth texture.
My wonderful Lanzhou Beef Lamian soup in Beijing
Lamian, Sichuan peppercorns and Shaoxing wine
Lamian is made through a unique method that involves twisting, stretching and folding the dough into strands. Smacking the dough on a hard surface is also part of the process. The first recorded mention of the noodles dates back to 1504 in the Songshi Yangsheng Bu. There is a lot of debate on which flour to use, most say a high protein content flour works best. But the secret to the stretch is the salt in the dough and a long resting period. Lamian are mostly used for beef or mutton soups, called tāngmiàn. Lanzhou soups are a halal dish as they are served in Chinese Muslim restaurants.
Sichuan peppercorns give this dish a really unique punch. Actually they are not really peppercorns but are the husk of them. They do not give off a heat like chili peppers, but rather a lemony note that will numb your mouth. If you don’t have them substitute with a spicy condiment of your choice. It will take away from the authenticity but the soup is still delicious. I brought some back from my trip to China…and many Chinese recipes to try.
If you do not have Shaoxing rice wine, you can substitute with sherry, a dry vermouth or mirin sauce.
The heartiest soup I ever ate
Now this is not the traditional soup served with hand pulled noodles. Usually it is a clear broth with slices of meat in it. But when I came across this spicy beef noodle soup on The Woks of Life I could not resist. I added a few tiny modifications and I halved the recipe. Usually a meal soup does not satisfy my hunger, this one totally does!
It is so packed with flavors and so fragrant. There is an entire head of garlic in there, some lovely Chinese cooking wine, star anise, bean paste, ginger and Sichuan peppers with make your moth go deliciously numb and tangy.
I just posted a video of my second flat hand pulled noodle attempt. You will see how much of a pro I now am compared to my first video. But still a long way to go. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you do not miss a single new video to come. The recipe is just below.
Spicy Beef Noodle Soup with Chinese Hand Pulled noodles
Ingredients
- 400 grams 14 ounces all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 280 milliliter 9.5 ounces room temperature water
- 8 cups cold water
- 3 slices ginger
- 3 scallions washed and cut in half
- 1/8 cup Shaoxing rice wine or mirin
- 1.5 lbs stew beef cut into 1½ inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/2 to 1 tablespoon Sichuan peppers whole
- 1 head of garlic peeled
- 1/2 large onion cut into chunks
- 2.5 star anise
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/8 cup Chinese black bean paste mix with siracha for more spice to taste
- 1 large tomato cut into small chunks
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 large piece of dried tangerine peel
- flat hand pulled noodles
- Chopped scallion and cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Slowly add and mix in the water until mixed in and no more dry flour. It will be sticky. Knead the doug on a floured surface. Adding flour as needed knead for 10 to 15 minutes, or until you get a smooth and springy ball. Place the dough in a floured bowl, cover with a damp dish towel and then a lid on top of the bowl. Leave to rest on the counter for at least 2 hours while you make the soup. Prepare the soup...
- Fill one large pot with the cold water. To it, add the ginger, scallions, Shaoxing wine and beef. Bring to a boil with a cover on the pot. Once it boils lower heat down to a simmer for 10 minutes. Set pot aside.
- Over medium low heat, place the oil in a second large pot. Toss in the Sichuan peppers, garlic cloves, onion, star anise and bay leaves. Stir and cook until until the onion and garlic starts to soften. Mix in the bean paste, and siracha if using it. Add the tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Mix in the soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar. Remove from heat.
- Strain the broth from pot 1 with a fine mesh sieve into pot 2 and discard of the impurities. Add the beef, ginger, and scallions to pot 2.
- Add the tangerine peel and bring the pot to a boil again over high heat. Cover and simmer on a low heat for 1 hour.
- Turn off the heat but keep the pot, lid on, on the burner for another full hour.
- When the hour is up get back to the noodles. Flour your working surface and knead the dough a few times. Divide the dough into 4 balls. With a rolling pin, roll out each ball into a round disc about 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) thick. Cover the discs as you go with plastic wrap to prevent the dough from drying. Leave to rest for another 30 minutes.
- Slowly warm up the soup again and bring another medium pot of water to a roaring boil.
- Working one disk of dough at a time, slice the disc into several strips about 1 inch wide. Take one strip at a time and gently pull out the entire strip a bit. Then from one end pull the strip of dough into a long flat even noodle right into the boiling water. It’s normal for the strip to break 2 to 3 times as you pull. Pull another 2 to 3 strips of dough the same way.
- Boil the noodles until cooked, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the noodles from the pot into a bowl and set aside. Pull and cook the remaining 3 disks of dough in the same manner.
- Divide the noodles into 6 bowls and top with the soup and beef. Garnish with scallions, and cilantro
Here are a few more authentic Chinese recipes for you to try:
Yum. I love lamian as well. Makes me crave these.
Thank Serina, been a while I am now craving it too 🙂
I have never even heard of hand pulled noodles. This soup looks SO good!!
Thanks so much Cathleen, hope you give it a try.
Looks like youre really enjoying it, like me I will be more expressive than you when I have this. Such an Asian comfort meal
We should have a noodle soup expression eating contest. I am honestly just trying not to drop the noodles, it’s a concentrated look lol.
Sounds and looks delicious. I wonder if it would be good with buckwheat noodles.
Thank you Laura. I am sure the soup works with any Asian style noodles 🙂
You know what I love most about this post, the picture of you eating your soup. This is the face of a foodie. 🙂
I am so impressed you actually made the noodles, Im so lazy, I buy them for a few dollars at the asian grocer down the road. Will be making this soup dish asap, we love hearty soups in our household. The cooler weather (its 23c here – haha) has us craving a more substantial meal for dinner. Thanks gurl.
LOL I am not surprised you like the pic of my eating the Lanzhou soup in China. Only a foodie would put a silly pic of themselves sucking up long noodles ha ha. I have never seen fresh hand pulled noodles at my Asian grocer 🙁 I hope you enjoy the soups in your ‘cold’ weather. I am freaking out because we actually might hit 22 today. I think I need to put up my AC I saw 30 with humidity Wed lol. It has been a cold spring.
I love this noodle soup! And hand pulled noodles are so individual which I really enjoy eating! 😀
Thanks Lorraine glad you love the recipe. Have you tried hand pulled noodles?
Oh, boy, does this look amazing!! The homemade noodles, the flavorful soup….just a phenomenal combo! Now I’m off to watch your noodle making video 🙂
Thanks Liz and I hope you will have a good laugh at me in video no 1 lol. But check out the better no 2 going live tomorrow May13th at 11 am EST lol!
I love all sorts of Asian noodle soups/bowls and this one looks delicious and so flavorful. Nice job!
Thank you Amy 🙂
Gosh this soup looks so very good and I love that you persevered with hand making the lamian noodles!
Thank you so much Kavey and it was worth the effort 🙂
This recipe looks and sounds delicious with the rich ingredients. I love the flavor of ginger. Don’t eat beef, but I’m sure it would taste good as a veggie dish.
Thanks Danielle and yes just make a rich vegetable broth first and you will be good to go 🙂
This really does look INSANELY hearty – hot damn! I am really not much of a soup person… I don’t know why… But I do love me some BEEEEEFFFF! So I do love the BEEFED UP aspect of this dish! 😉
I am normally really not a soup person either but this ne checks all the boxes for some reason 😀
Aren’t you AMAZING? I’d never imagine myself making noodles from scratch. The soup looks very delicious and so perfect for this evening when I am freezing in my jammies. Literally eating with my eyes.
For once Sonali we are getting the same weather? Because spring is lost I think lol. Thanks for your comment 🙂
Wow, making your own noodles!! what an adventure this is. You are such a courageous girl :).
Not just once too, twice…so far lol. Thanks Amira 🙂
I’ve never made my own hand pulled noodles. And doubt if I ever will — they look hard to do! Not that I’m usually intimidated by kitchen tasks, but I think I’ll leave these to the masters (it helps that I’m about a 30 minute walk from a restaurant where I can get good ones). Anyway, this is a superb dish — love the soup. I could make it with store bought noodles, but probably wouldn’t be as good. Maybe I should just learn to make my own noodles — the flat ones have a nice shape, and they do look easier to make. Thanks!
John, it really sounds like you are reasoning yourself into trying to make the noodles!!!!!!!! 😉 (make the noddles – I am speaking to your subconscious). It’s really not that ‘hard’ but results vary lol. Well homemade or store bought, the soup is easy and delicious!
I’m not familiar with lamian and now I’m intrigued by the noodle-making process! Being of Italian heritage, I know noodles are serious business. I love the sound of the Sichuan peppercorns, too. I wonder if I can find them locally….
Thank you Francesca for your comment. So true the noodles there are as important as pasta in Italy, but completely different results. Hit your Asian supermarket for the Sichuan peppercorns 😉
That looks delicious! I’d struggle to find all the ingredients I think, but thumbs up to you for doing it!
Thanks Fiona, and you can find them all at an Asian supermarket 😉
This looks so amazing. I will definitely try this but skip the hand pulled noodles.
Thanks Carol, hope you will enjoy the soup 🙂
I think I would be tempted to use my pasta machine. It’s perfect weather here for soup.
That would give a completely different noodle I am afraid, but might be good too 🙂
OH Evelyne this looks amazing! I absolutely love the flavours of your dish- particularly the Sichuan peppercorns. I have some in my cupboard but have yet to try them in a recipe. You’ve just given me a very delicious excuse! 😀
Thank you so much Hilary! And so cool that you have some of the peppercorns. No excuses now lol.
That looks amazing! I can’t imagine making that myself – it looks so delicious, I’m drooling already! It’s like a meal in itself.
Thank you Lois! It is a full meal. And really not hard after a trip to the Asian market…skip making the noodles 😉
Oh Evelyne this is an amazing post…you do not let any challenge stop you…this bowl of beef noodle soup just look fabulous, packed with so much flavors…I love it!
Have a fabulous week 🙂
Oh thank you so much Juliana for your wonderful comment! I still have to redo the noodles…not fully satisfied lol. Have a fabulous week too!
wow I am in awe of your passion for creating delicious foods from all over the world. Thumbs up for you, Evelyne, making this awesome lamian soup!
Thank you so much Angie 🙂 This one is a challenge for sure but worth it.