Beef Soup with Daikon Radish and Potatoes {Niu Rou Luo Bo Tu Dou Tang 牛肉萝卜土豆汤} Chinese style features savory and juicy beef and soft bite-size radish and potatoes. So hearty, delicious, and easy to make.
Vegetable Beef Soup {Chinese Style 土豆萝卜牛肉汤}
So what’s the secret for the delicious beef soup? Well, a few things to mention. Prepare and tenderize beef, sear beef in small bathes, and then slow cook with loads of with tomatoes. The simmering process not only makes beef super tender but also makes a heavenly yummy broth. As a result, no need to add additional beef broth to this recipe.
Ingredients for Beef Soup with Daikon Radish and Potatoes:
Beef cut – beef chuck is the best for beef soup or stew. Beef round is also OK.
A pinch of baking soda – I add a pinch of baking soda to mix with beef to tenderize the beef. A trick often found in Chinese-style cooking.
Zhenjiang vinegar – An ancient & traditional vinegar native to China’s Yangtze River Delta area, home to Huai Yang cuisine. Zhenjiang vinegar is among my top list of essential healthy & tasty Chinese cooking condiments.
Arrowroot flour – My go-to starch choice, superfood & gluten-free. You may use a starch of your choice.
Cooking Oil – Coat the marinated beef will cooking oil will help lock-in beef’s moisture. Avocado oil is one of my preferred cooking oil. You may substitute with other cooking oil such as canola oil.
Ginger and Green Onions – two important Chinese cooking spices.
Sugar- I use turbinado sugar to coat and flavor the beef during the last step of beef browning process. They are one of the healthiest tasty sugar. You may use sugar of your choice.
Tomatoes and Red Onions- Tomatoes not only help tenderize and flavor the beef but also give the soup an appealing red hue. We are using tons of tomatoes for this recipe. Red onion always makes beef taste better.
Daikon Radish and Potatoes – Two hearty vegetables. Either vegetable complements beef well, and they also work wonderfully together.
Anises and Bay Leaves – Spices used to flavor the soup. Marinated beef with tomatoes and red onions is already naturally delicious. These two simple spices wonderfully enhance the flavor.
Boiling Water – Use boiling water vs. cold water so that beef stays tender. This recipe doesn’t require beef broth.
Beef Soup with Daikon Radish and Potatoes {Niu Rou Luo Bo Tu Dou Tang 牛肉萝卜土豆汤} Chinese style features savory and juicy beef and soft bite-size radish and potatoes. So hearty, delicious, and easy to make.
Ingredients
2 lbs beef chuck, or beef round, see notes
For Marinating the Beef:
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
2 tbsp naturally aged soy sauce, or dark soy sauce
2 tsp Zhenjiang vinegar
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 tbsp arrowroot flour
4 tbsp canola oil
For Searing the Beef:
2 tbsp canola oil
1 small piece of ginger, thinly sliced
1 tbsp sugar, turbinado sugar preferred
For the Soup:
2.5 lbs tomatoes
1 red onion, about 13 oz
2 anises
3 bay leaves
3 cups of boiling water
1 lb potatoes
1 lb daikon radish
1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt, or to the taste
1 stalk of green onion, or cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
Marinate the beef the night before:
Cut beef chuck across the grain into slices and then cut across into bite size chunks.
Soak beef in cold water for about 10 minutes, rinse a few times to get rid of the trapped blood.
Gently squeeze the extra water out, and add beef into a mixing bowl
Add baking soda and mix well with the beef using a pair of wooden spatula. Same way as you would mix a salad.
Add Himalayan pink salt, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, Zhenjiang vinegar, and arrowroot flour into the mixing bowl, mix well.
Add 2 tbsp avocado oil and mix well.
Seal the mixing bowl with a food film and store in the refrigerator over night for best results.
Prepare vegetables:
Wash and cut tomatoes into bite-size chunks. Tomato is a key ingredient for the soup. Most juice from the soup are from the tomatoes.
Wash and peel potatoes, cut into bite-size chunks. Wash and peel daikon radish, and then cut into long strips. Peel out-layer of the red onion, rinse well, trim both ends, and then cut vertically into thin slices. Wash and cut green onion into small pieces.
Brown the beef:
Turn the heat to medium, heat a non-stick fry-pan for 1 minute.
Add about 1/2 tsp canola oil and half of ginger into the pan, stir for 15 seconds, and then add half of the marinated beef, and lay them flat across the pan.
Cook for about 1 minute or till beef is browned and then flip to sear the other side of the beef, about 1 minute.
If needed, turn the beef again to sear the remaining sides till all sides of beef chunks are properly seared or browned.
Remove the browned beef from the pan.
Repeat for the other half of the marinated beef.
Add all browned beef back to the pan, add 1 tbsp turbinado sugar and stir fry for about 30 seconds.
Turn off the heat, remove the browned beef from the pan and set aside.
Cooking the Beef Soup:
Turn the heat to medium, heat the Wok for 1 minute, and then turn to simmer. Add tomatoes and onions first into the wok, and then add browned beef including the ginger, and then anises and bay leaves. Cover the wok with a lid and cook for 50 minutes.
While waiting, blanch daikon radish and potatoes. Fill a 4 Qt stockpot with 75% water and bring it to a boil. Add daikon radish into the pot, add the lid and bring it back to a boil, remove the daikon radish from the pot using a spider skimmer. Repeat this for potatoes, and then set aside.
At the end of the 50 minutes, the tomatoes and red onions are almost melted away and turn into shining red concentrated soup. Use a bamboo spatula gently mix everything in the wok.
Add 3 cups of boiling water and blanched potatoes and daikon radish into the wok.
Gently mix , cover the lid and cook for 40 minutes.
All done! Turn off the heat, and add finely chopped green onion or cilantro for garnishing.
Enjoy a super delicious & hearty beef soup with potatoes and daikon radish.
Notes
Beef chuck is the best for beef soup, as they have more connecting tissues which makes the meat more tender. I usually get a big piece of beef chuck and then cut into bite size chunks for beef soup or stew. You may also use beef round.
You may include the spices in a stainless steel tea fuser.
Avocado oil is my preferred cooking oil. You may substitute with other cooking oil such as canola oil.
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