Sliced Beef in Hot and Sour Soup – Suan Tang Fei Niu酸汤肥牛

If you are like me, who loves the hot and sour flavor, you have to try this sliced beef in hot and sour soup dish AKA suan tang fei niu in Chinese! Once I tasted it in a local Sichuan restaurant here in St. Louis, I’ve always gone back to the restaurant for it! The golden soup is filled with chili sauce, pickled peppers and possesses a distinct spicy and sour flavor! The soup has lots of sliced beef in it as well as vegetables such as bamboo shoots, enoki mushrooms and glass noodles. Each bite is fully covered by the soup and it is a full sensory pleasure to eat all the ingredients!

What makes the hot and sour soup base?

There are three ingredients used in this recipe to create the hot and sour flavor.

1. Yellow Lantern Chili Sauce – Yellow lantern chili sauce is a fermented chili sauce made with spicy yellow lantern chilies. These chilies are bright yellow in color and have a spicy taste. The sauce is also sour and salty, so if you used about 3-4 tbsp yellow lantern chili sauce, you’ll not need to add salt in the soup.
2. Pickled Chilies – I’m using pickled whole green chilies and you can use any pickled chili without much other flavor. Pickled red chilies are also good options.
3. White Vinegar – Lastly I used 1 tbsp white vinegar in the soup to add the sour flavor to it! Add white vinegar per your taste!

Do I need to use stock for the hot and sour soup?

For this dish, I would recommend using homemade bone stock without salt. You can also use chicken stock. If you don’t have stock, just use water, the soup will be a little lighter but the hot and sour flavor would still be there.

What kind of beef to use for sliced beef in hot and sour soup?

Typically use sliced hot pot beef readily available to you at an Asian grocery store. Costco’s sliced beef is also a great option!

What if I want this dish to be less spicy?

With my recipe, this dish will turn out to be very spicy. In order to lower the spicy level, you can reduce the use of yellow lantern chili sauce to 2-3 tbsp. Additionally, when garnishing with chilies at the end, instead of using thai chilies, use other less spicy chilies!

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Sliced Beef in Hot and Sour Soup (酸汤肥牛）

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Servings: 2

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 0.5-1 lb Thinly Sliced Beef
• 4 tbsp Yellow Lantern Chili Sauce
• 4 pickled green/red chili
• 1 piece ginger
• 2 clove garlic
• 5 Thai Chili
• 1 pack enoki mushroom
• 1 serving sweet potato noodles/glass noodles
• 1/2 pack bamboo shoots (boiled)
• 2.5 tbsp cooking oil 0.5 tbsp for frying, 2 tbsp for topping
• 2.5 cup stock/water
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp cooking wine (shaoxing)
• 1 handful cilantro (chopped)

Method

 

1. Take out some yellow lantern chili sauce. Use 2-3 tbsp if you don't want it too spicy. Take out pickled green chilies. Finely chop pickled chilies and save for later use.
2. Slice the bamboo shoots in half, then slice into quarters. Gently tear them apart. Soak some sweet potato noodles with cold water.
3. Cut off the ends of enoki mushrooms and throw away the bottom part. Separate the enoki mushrooms. Set aside.
4. Slice Thai chilies into small pieces. They are used for garnish later.
5. Prepare some minced garlic, and finely chop an equal amount of ginger. Finely chop some cilantro for garnish later. 
6. Bring a pot of water to boil. Blanch the enoki mushrooms for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Take them out and add to the bottom of a large serving bowl. 
7. Cook the bamboo shoots in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Take out and add to the serving bowl. Next cook the noodles per instruction and add to the bowl. 
8. Blanch the beef slices. Take the beef slices out right after they become pink in color. Set aside. Do not over cook beef slices because we will cook them again later.
9. In a large pan or wok, add some cooking oil on medium heat. Drop in minced ginger and half of the minced garlic. Stir until fragrant.
10. Drop in yellow lantern chili sauce and pickled chilies. Stir well. Add cooking wine via the side of the wok.
11. Add bone stock or water. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. While the soup is boiling, season the soup with white vinegar and 1/4 tsp sugar.
12. Add the beef slices back to the soup. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat.
13. Add all the beef slices and the soup to the serving bowl. Top with chopped Thai chilies and the rest of minced garlic. 
14. In a separate pan, heat up 2 tbsp cooking oil (canola or avocado). When oil starts smoking, remove and pour over the dish, burning the Thai chilies and minced garlic.
15. Garnish with cilantro and serve.