Hui Muslim Beef Noodles (Lanzhou La Mian)

Ingredients

• For the broth
• 1.5 kg beef bones, rinsed, blanched and rinsed again
• 500 g beef brisket or shank, left whole
• 3 litres cold water
• 1 tsp five-spice powder
• 1 piece white radish (daikon), peeled, sliced into rounds
• 1 tsp salt, adjust to taste
• For the la mian dough
• 500 g high-gluten (bread) flour
• 250 ml water, cold
• 1 tsp salt
• To serve
• 4 tbsp chili oil, or to taste
• 1 handful fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

Method

1. 1
   Blanch the beef bones and brisket in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water, and transfer to a large pot with 3 litres of fresh cold water. Add the five-spice powder. Bring to the point of trembling — never a rolling boil — and skim every trace of grey foam from the surface. The broth is ready to proceed when it runs clear.
2. 2
   Reduce the heat to the lowest possible simmer. Add the sliced white radish. Cook, uncovered, for at least 3 hours, skimming as needed. The broth is done when it is fully clear and carries a clean, deep beef flavour with no cloudiness; vigorous boiling at any point will make clarity unrecoverable — this is where the dish lives or dies.
3. 3
   Lift the brisket from the broth and slice against the grain into thin pieces. Season the broth with salt. Keep both at a gentle heat.
4. 4
   Combine the high-gluten flour and salt in a bowl. Add the cold water gradually, mixing until a shaggy dough forms. Knead firmly and at length until the dough is completely smooth and elastic — it should spring back when pressed and stretch without tearing.
5. 5
   Rest the dough, covered, for at least 30 minutes. Divide into four equal portions. Working one portion at a time, stretch and fold the dough in figure-8 loops, doubling the strands with each pass, until the noodles reach the desired width — flat (kuan), thin (xi), or extra-thin (mao xi). The dough must be supple and unbroken; any tearing signals insufficient gluten development.
6. 6
   Drop the pulled noodles immediately into a large pot of vigorously boiling water. Cook until they rise to the surface and are tender yet retain a firm chew — test a strand; it should be cooked through with no raw flour taste.
7. 7
   Lift the noodles into deep bowls. Ladle the clear broth over them. Arrange slices of beef and white radish on top. Spoon chili oil across the surface and finish with fresh coriander. The finished bowl should read one clear (broth), two white (radish and noodle), three red (chili oil), four green (coriander), five yellow (noodle sheen) — if the colour standard holds, the bowl is correct.