– 1.5 – 2kg of chuck steak, cut into 2cm cubes
– 2 tbs peanut or vegetable oil
– 1 tbs of Sichuan peppercorns
– 4 cinnamon quills
– 6 whole star anise
– 2 garlic cloves, thinly chopped
– 3 whole dried kashmiri chillies (or to dried chili to taste)
– 1 tb of grated ginger
– 280 ml soy sauce (mix of light and dark is good, gluten free if you can find it)
– 150g of sugar (brown or raw)
– 2 teabags lapsang souchong tea (I use 2 teaspoons of loose leaf in a perforated canister)
Heat the oil in a deep heavy bottomed stock pot or casserole and brown the beef in batches. Clean the excess oil out of the pot.
Bring 1.5 lt of water to the boil in the pot. Add the beef and all ingredients except for the tea. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 1.5 hours.
At his point skim any scum that has risen to the surface and add the tea bags or canister.
Cook for another 1/2 hour. Remove tea bags and spoon beef on a big platter or into individual bowls. Good with steamed rice and greens.
There will be about 500ml of liquid left over for the best damn soup base you ever had. Better than good. Bloody brilliant.