Chinese-Spiced Braised Beef (清燉牛肉)

If you have tea filters used for making your own loose leaf teas, place all the dry spices in the filter.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Once it's boiling put the beef into the water and blanch the beef for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse the beef under cold water to stop cooking. Put it in a colander to drain and set aside.

Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat, add ginger and garlic and let it cook for a minute until fragrant.

Turn heat down to medium and add beef, soy sauce and rice wine. Stir-fry for 3 minutes then add the sachet of dry spices, the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, water and beef bullion. Mix to incorporate and dissolve.

Turn heat up to high and bring to a boil. When it comes to a boil, turn heat down to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.

Add radishes to the stew and continue to simmer for 2 hours. Skim off excess fat floating on top as desired and adjust seasoning. Remove the sachet of spices as well as the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Sprinkle chopped scallions over each bowl as you serve.

Notes:

- This recipe is gluten-free if you use gluten-free soy sauce.

- Freeze the brisket for 30 minutes ahead of time for ease of slicing.

- If you'd like to serve this with noodles, just cook noodles in a separate pot, drain, divide into bowl and top with braised beef and soup.

- Feel free to spice this up with some chili oil and sriracha!

Adapted from Yi Reservation.