Cantonese-style beef brisket

Cantonese-Style Beef Brisket and Tendon with Noodles

Ingredients
500g beef brisket (Cantonese ngow lam)
500g beef tendon (Cantonese ngow kan
200g root vegetables like carrot or radish
250g of a green leafy vegetable like bak choy, chye sim or kai-lan
4 tablespoons oyster sauce (use the premium stuff)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons corn starch
one-quarter teaspoon five spice powder
salt to taste

wonton wheat noodles

Ipoh (narrow) rice noodles (Cantonese hor fun)
Method
1) Buy the brisket and tendon from the wet market. 2) Leaving both uncut, rinse and place
both into the pressure cooker. Add the oyster sauce and just enough water to cover the meat.
3) Close the lid of the pressure cooker and lock it. Cook under pressure for one hour. 4)
Wash, peel and cut the root vegetables on the diagonal into large pieces. 5) Allow the
pressure to drop until it is safe to unlock the lid. 6) Remove the brisket and add the root
vegetables. 7) Close the lid and lock it. Cook the tendon under pressure for another 15
minutes. 8) Allow the pressure to drop until it is safe to unlock the lid. 9) By now the brisket
and tendon should be tender. If not, remove the root vegetables and extend cooking time for
both by another 15 minutes. 10) Remove the meat and cut into chunks. 11) With the lid off
but the heat still on, add the other condiments to the simmering contents and adjust to taste
with salt. As the gravy is meant to accompany the noodles, use a little more five spice
powder, salt or oyster sauce as desired. 12) Stir a quarter cup of water into the corn starch
and add to pot. Once the gravy has thickened, turn off the heat. 13) While the meat is
cooking, rinse and trim the leafy vegetables. Blanch in boiling water for a minute or so and
then cook them in a pot of cold or iced water for a few minutes to stop the vegetables from
cooking further and to retain its colour; drain. 14) Reheat the noodles according to the
manufacturers instructions. This generally involves boiling the noodles for less than a
minute and then removing them with a wire spider drainer. 15) Arrange the noodles,
brisket and tendon pieces and vegetables into a bowl or deep plate. Ladle gravy over and
serve with pickled green chilli or red chilli sauce.
Notes
You are unlikely to find beef brisket and tendon in your supermarket. The ratio of brisket
and tendon may be adjusted to suit your preferences. For non-electric pressure cookers, put
on high heat after locking the lid. Once the safety release valve starts to hiss or sputter, lower
the heat and start timing. One advantage of non-electric pressure cookers is that they can be
rapidly cooled in the sink by running cold tap water over them for a few minutes. The
recommended cooking times above for the pressure cooker are generally sufficient to render
the brisket and tendon to just the right texture to be eaten without losing flavour. Overcooking is not advisable. For the wonton noodles, you may opt to rinse them with cold water
after boiling, the so-called crossing the cold river step to remove any alkaline taste and give
better mouth feel. Traditionally, radish is the root vegetable of choice but some folks may
find them bitter. If so, just substitute with carrot for a sweet treat.