Wash, dry and cut up meat
Add oil to a pan or pot and sear meat on all sides on high to medium high heat. Do not overcrowd the meat Tips on getting a good sear: meat should be at room temperature, meat should be fairly dry, meat should not touch each other in the pan, start with high heat and turn to medium high after the first flip
Remove meat from pot
Add ginger, garlic, shallots to pot and stir fry on medium high heat until you smell the aroma
Add 1 tbsp of the hot bean paste to the aromatics and stir fry for a minute Note that the 1 tbsp of hot bean paste will not make the beef spicy hot. You will just have a bit of the flavour. If you want to add more hot bean paste, then reduce the salt and the soy sauce amounts
Add white radish, carrots and meat to the pot and mix well
Add ½ c of Shaoxing wine, 4 bay leaves, 3 star anise, 40g rock sugar, knotted green onion, chili pepper, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp light soy, 2 tbsp dark soy and 1 litre water or broth. Fluid should cover all the ingredients in the pot.
Turn heat up to high until the fluid boils, then turn the heat down to low and cook for 1.5 hours or until tender and white radish looks translucent
During the cooking time, you can prepare the pickled mustard greens, the noodles and some bok choy if desired
When the beef soup is ready, remove the green onions, ginger, bay leaves, star anise, chili peppers and cinnamon stick. Spoon out excess oil. Taste and add soy sauce, sugar or water to adjust flavors, if desired
Serve the beef, white radish and carrots on top of cooked noodles and add soup. Add pickled mustard greens and bok choy. Sprinkle with chopped green onions