Chinese beef brisket with daikon recipe
There aren’t that many traditional Chinese dishes that we know how to make but this one is one that we are proud of.
Growing up, my dad made me beef brisket all the time, usually in really large batches so that we could freeze them and eat it whenever we want. It wasn’t until I moved out that I realized how much I missed it but at the same time, I also realized how difficult it was to find good, authentic Chinese recipes online. Truth is, most chinese people don’t follow a cookbook and they kind of just make it up along the way, not keeping track of the portions of each ingredients needed to cook the dish. Luckily, my dad is pretty good at giving rough measurements of the ingredients needed to make this dish so he emailed it to me and we’ve been tweaking it ever since. We served it to our friends and family recently and they all loved it 🙂
This dish does require a bit of prep time… in fact, we recommend you make it a day in advance from when you want to serve it. The dish needs time to braise in its own juices so that the flavour can really develop.
To make the dish, you will need 2-3 lbs of beef brisket, cut into cubes.
Meanwhile, prep the spices and the sauces.
You’ll need a wide selection of chinese spices for this dish – most of which you can get at a local chinese grocery store. For spices, you will need rock sugar, star anise and licorice.
For the sauces, you will need hoisin sauce, chu hou paste, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and red shanghai bean curd. Combine these all into a bowl so that you can add this to your brisket mixture all at once.
When you’re ready to start cooking, cook the garlic, ginger, and onion over medium high heat. Then, add the sauce mixture above along with the beef brisket and stir to coat the beef with the sauce. Cook for 5 mins.
After cooking it for 5 mins or so, fill the pot with water just enough to cover the beef brisket. Add in the spice mixture and daikon and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, bring it to a gentle simmer and cook for an hour.
Season to taste afterwards,
Chinese beef brisket with daikon recipe
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs of beef brisket
- 2 tbsp of ginger, smashed
- 1/4 cup rock sugar
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 piece of Shanghai bean curd (red)
- 2 tbsp of chu hou paste
- 6 pieces star aniseed
- 8 pieces licorice film
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cups daikon, cubed
- water
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Instructions
- 1. In a large dutch oven over medium high heat, cook the garlic, and smashed ginger in some vegetable oil. Once it smells aromatic, add the sliced onions and cook until translucent.
- 2. Add the hoisin sauce, chu hou paste, oyster sauce, shanghai bean curd, and soy sauce into the pot and stir it around. Then add the beef brisket in and stir to coat the beef brisket in the sauce mixture. Cook for 5 mins.
- 3. Fill the pot with water, just enough to cover the beef brisket. Add the remaining spices (star anise, rock sugar, licorice). Add in the daikon as well. Bring to a boil and then back to down to a gentle simmer. Let simmer for an hour.
- 4. After an hour, season to taste. If you want the beef more tender, you can cook it for a bit longer.
