Beef Soup

Tau Kee & Black Fungus

Tau Pok

Green Radish

Garlic

Fermented bean curd with chilli & sesame oil, wolfberries, red dates, radix codonopsis pilosulae

Beef muscles

in case you're like me, clueless what "radix codonopsis pilosulae" is.. here's a picture of the packaging:

marinate the beef muscle with the fermented bean curd:

in the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients (except tau kee and tau pok) into a pot of water and turn on small fire:

after about 15 mins or longer, fry the marinated beef in a non-stick frying pan.. do NOT add oil to the pan before frying:

fry the meat shrinks a little and transfer the meat into the soup pot:

let the soup boil for about 5 mins or so and add in the tau kee and tau pok:

let it simmer for about 45 mins to an hour over small fire. Turn off fire. boil the soup for another half hr to one hour before serving.

so here's a summary:
INGREDIENTS
tau kee
black fungus
tau pok
1 green radish
1 to 2 bulbs garlic
1 tbsp wolfberries
4 red dates
2 sticks of that wooden herb
1 kg beef muscle
1 bottle fermented bean curd with chilli and sesame oil
~ 1.5 litres water

METHOD
1) Pour away the liquid from the fermented bean curd. Marinate beef with fermented bean curd. Set aside.
2) Pour the water in a pot.
3) Add in all ingredients except marinated beef, tau kee and tau pok. Turn on small fire and slowly bring to boil.
4) Fry marinated beef in a non-stick pan without any oil.
5) After about 5 mins or beef has shrink a little, transfer beef into the pot.
6) Still on small fire, let simmer for about 5 mins before adding tau kee and tau pok.
7) Simmer for about 45 mins to an hour and turn off fire.
8) Turn on fire and let simmer for at least half hour to an hour before serving.

Serves about 6 to 8.

Note: Can replace the beef with mutton.