Happy Father’s Day to all you rockin’ papas out there! It’s been a helluva year. And while I won’t give all of you the kudos that most moms deserve for taking care of the kids during the pandemic, I know there are dads out there that sacrificed a lot this past year. And even for those who didn’t sacrifice a lot, this past year as a parent was still a tough one! Whether it was working from home with the entire family or dealing with the frustrations of our children while having to manage our own frustrations and anxieties! It has been a TOUGH year!
I have tried to pause throughout this past year and focus on gratitude. Some of you may say “oh, very hippy dippy of you, old woman.” But seriously, I have a lot to be grateful for during this nightmarish year, and I’d rather focus on that than the nightmarish part. I won’t list them all here, but I am most thankful for not having lost anyone to this pandemic. We had a safe space with plenty of room for all of us to work, stretch, have privacy, exercise, argue, embrace, come together, which I know a lot of people did not. My kudos goes out to every family crammed into apartments together who made it through this past year without ringing each other’s necks… or only ringing each other’s necks once or twice 😉.
I hope this trajectory we are on toward a return to normalcy continues, and my heart goes out to the parts of the world not nearly as fortunate as the States. I hope the help you need gets to you sooner rather than later ♥️.
But to refocus now back on today’s recipe! We are big on Asian dishes in this house. My husband spent a good amount of time in Asia during his stint in the navy. His first wife was a Chinese-American woman. My first husband was a Filipino-American man. I thoroughly loved traveling through Asia and cannot wait to go back! I’d love to spend a couple of months in Vietnam, so, ya know, if anyone wants to host me 😉😉 I won’t say no!
But, my point is that, we absolutely love Asian cuisine. So, a lot of my recipes either try to recreate authentic dishes, or I try to create new dishes using Asian flavors, which leads me to today’s dish. I had a craving for an “Asian noodle bowl.” Those are the words that came to my mind when this craving arose. It wasn’t a ramen dish or a pho dish. It was an “Asian noodle bowl.” And I wasn’t quite sure what that meant until I started planning it out. The two things I knew were that I wanted shredded beef and thicker stir fry noodles, like udon.
Now, this dish is super easy to adapt if you prefer to make this a ramen dish! But, I really liked having this with just a small amount of broth coating the noodles and saturating the beef. This is a slow cooker recipe, as the name suggests, duh! It can be done on a high setting to have it ready in closer to four hours. I am not an instant pot user, so although I’m sure it would work, I can’t advise on the best way to use it!
Now, trust me on all the flavors that go into this dish. It may seem like a long list of disjointed flavors, but they all meld beautifully for this mildly spicy, Asian sauce. Before putting the beef into the slow cooker, sear all sides of it. I know some people say this is optional or say that it’s unnecessary, but I totally disagree with them. I find searing the beef guarantees it to be tender and helps break down the fatty portions of the meat. And, it only takes five minutes!
To top this dish, I roasted broccoli, making a sweet and spicy combination of sesame oil, sambal oelek, and Thai sweet chili sauce… it was awesome! I also topped it with fried onions (French’s is the popular brand of choice ~ I use Fresh Choice), bean sprouts (fresh or canned!), scallions, cilantro, and, of course, chopped kimchi. You have to have the kimchi!!
And speaking of all these various Asian ingredients: gochujang, sambal oelek, kimchi, Thai sweet chili sauce ~ all of these can be found at a local Asian market. If you don’t have a local Asian market, I know that Amazon carries most of these, and kimchi is available at places like Whole Foods also! My local grocery store carries some, but not all, of these ingredients, so I end up getting my Asian ingredients from various sources. I unfortunately couldn’t find udon noodles, so I opted for Hokkein noodles instead. Very similar in taste and texture!
This dish is a perfect Sunday dinner. Let it slow cook all day while you go out, enjoy your dads, enjoy the weather, or do whatever you want to do on your Sunday before coming back to a delicious dinner!
I’ll end this with a noodle pull… Enjoy!
Slow Cooker Asian Ginger Noodles with Spicy Pulled Beef & Roasted Broccoli
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Asian, Asian Fusion, Korean
- Cuisine: Dinner
Ingredients
Slow Cooker Beef
3 lb beef chuck roast
2 cups beef broth
⅓ cup low sodium soy sauce
¼ cup sherry wine
2 TB rice vinegar
3 TB brown sugar
1 TB sambal oelek
1 TB Thai sweet chili sauce
2 TB fish sauce
1 – 2 TBs gochujang
1 TB cornstarch
2 TBs ginger, minced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 cinnamon stick
¼ tsp ground cloves
2 sweet onions, thinly sliced
Roast Broccoli
12 oz broccoli florets
1 TB sesame oil
½ TB sambal oelek
½ TB Thai sweet chili sauce
salt
To Serve
28 oz Hokkein stir fry noodles (substitute with udon noodles), cooked according to the package
bean sprouts
French’s fried onions
scallions, roughly chopped
sesame seeds
kimchi, chopped
cilantro, roughly chopped
1 lime, if desired
Instructions
In a slow cooker, whisk together the beef broth, soy sauce, sherry wine, rice vinegar, brown sugar, sambal oelek, Thai sweet chili sauce, fish sauce, gochujang, cornstarch, and ground cloves. Stir in the ginger, garlic, and cinnamon stick. Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat and sear the beef chuck roast on all sides for about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Add to the slow cooker. Add the onions and push them down into the liquid. Cook on low for 6 hours, or high for about 4 hours. Shredded or roughly chop the meat, discarding any rough, chewy fat. Return to the slow cooker and let sit on warm while the broccoli roasts. Season the broth to taste with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. On a baking sheet, toss the broccoli with the sesame oil, sambal oelek, and Thai sweet chili sauce. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Roast for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Place the noodles in deep bowls. Top with the shredded beef and a ladle of broth with onions. Add the roasted broccoli. Top with bean sprouts, fried onions, scallions, sesame seeds, chopped kimchi, and cilantro. If desired, squeeze some fresh lime over top. Mix together and serve with chopsticks, if desired. Enjoy!
Keywords: Asian noodles, Asian stir fry noodles, ramen noodles, ramen bowl, noodle bowl, Asian noodle bowl, Korean noodles, Korean noodle bowl, Asian fusion, Sunday dinner, Asian beef, slow cooker Asian beef
