Water Boiled Beef

or Shui Zhu Niu Rou

from Suyun Batyi

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons Canola oil (or any kind of vegetable oil)
2 tablespoons Chinese cooking wine
˝ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon corn starch (wet with a little water)
12 dried chili peppers
1 teaspoon Chinese flower pepper (a.k.a. brown pepper, wild pepper, Szechwan pepper, and the fifth spice in “real” Chinese 5 spice powder. “fake” 5 spice uses white pepper)
1 garlic bulb
1 small ginger root (about 1 ˝ inches long)
1 head Romaine lettuce
2 tablespoons broad bean paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 cups bone soup (chicken bones or other kind of bones.) May substitute water.
1.5 LB beef

Slice beef. Put into a bowl. Mix with 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine, Ľ teaspoon salt, wet cornstarch.

Heat 4 tablespoons oil, cook dried chili peppers and flower peppers, until they turn brown. Remove and chop into small pieces, save the red oil for later use.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil, cook Romaine for a very short time, just until soft, add a little salt before removing to a medium bowl.

Heat 3 tablespoons oil, add broad bean paste, chopped ginger, chopped garlic, stir for 30 seconds, add bone soup, salt, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, to a boil.

Spread the beef into boiling soup evenly, and cook until the soup is boiling again, pour the beef and soup on the lettuce, top with cooked chili peppers and flower peppers and the 4 tablespoons red oil.