Black Bean Sauce Beef Tripe (豆豉牛柏葉, Dau6 Si6 Ngau4 Paak3 Jip6)

This recipe was updated on 16 Jul 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, as well as the addition of metric measurements.

You can never eat too much tripe. For those unfamiliar with tripe, it’s (one of the) cow’s stomach. Here’s another recipe using poached honeycomb tripe, but the poaching liquid does not have any soy sauce. If you want a soy sauce poached tripe recipe, you can look at the Soy Sauce Beef Tripe with Sour Mustard (酸菜豉油牛柏葉, Syun¹ Coi³ Si⁶ Jau⁴ Ngau⁴ Paak³ Jip⁶) recipe. The tripe is poached so that it comes out white in color (close to the original uncooked color) and is then used in a classic black bean sauce stir fry recipe.

The non-classic addition to this recipe is sliced lotus root. Sliced lotus root is crunchy and has the distinctive holes that make this root so appealing. It actually is the root of the lotus flower that you find floating in ponds. You can buy lotus root fresh or pre-sliced in a package at your local Asian market. Fresh lotus root is crunchier than the pre-sliced packaged version, but if fresh lotus root is not available, the packaged version is a good substitute.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 lb.	1 kg.	Whole honeycomb beef tripe (牛柏葉, ngau4 paak3 jip6)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Baking soda (蘇打粉, sou1 daa2 fan2)
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), lightly crushed
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), lightly crushed
1  piece	1 piece	Rock sugar (冰糖, bing1 tong4)
2 tsp.	10 ml.	Salt (鹽, jim4)
½ cup	125 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
4 cups	1 L.	Water
½ lb.	250 g.	One section lotus root (蓮藕, lin4 ngau5), sliced into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) wide pieces (see notes)
1	1	Red bell pepper (紅椒, hung4 ziu1), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
1	1	Green bell pepper (青椒, ceng1 ziu1), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Salted black beans (豆豉, dau6 si6), crushed
6 cloves	6 cloves	Garlic (syun3, 蒜), minced
2 slices	2 slices	Ginger (goeng1, 薑), lightly crushed
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Water

 

Equipment

8 qt.	7.5 L.	Pot to cook the beef tripe
3.5 in.	9 cm.	Soak-out cooker to hold the spices
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Preparation Instructions

1. The whole honeycomb beef tripe can be poached one day ahead of time, refrigerated, and then cut into pieces before cooking. I once made the mistake of cutting the tripe before poaching and ended up with miniscule pieces of tripe because the tripe shrinks when poached, so cut the tripe into pieces after poaching.
2. Clean the whole beef honeycomb tripe by removing any excess fat from the back (non-honeycomb side) under cold running water. Spread the baking soda over both sides of the tripe and leave the baking soda on the tripe for at least 10 minutes to clean and remove any unwanted smells. Wash the tripe under cold running water to remove the baking soda.
3. Put the lightly crushed garlic and ginger into a soak out cooker. Place the soak out cooker, rock sugar, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, salt, and water into the pot. Finally add the tripe to the pot. Cover the pot and bring the contents of the pot to a boil over high heat before reducing the heat to low to simmer the tripe for 45 minutes.
4. Remove the tripe from the pot and place into a bowl for refrigeration. Discard the poaching liquid and the contents of the soak out cooker. All steps up to this point can be done the day before cooking.
5. Remove the tripe at least one hour before cooking. Cut the tripe into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces.
6. If using fresh lotus root, wash the lotus root and use your cleaver or knife to scrape off the surface layer, which is usually brown and discolored. Slice the lotus root into ¼-inch (7.5 mm.) wide pieces. If using pre-sliced packaged lotus root, open the package, discard any liquid, and wash the lotus root slices.
7. Wash and cut the red and green bell peppers into 1-inch pieces (2.5 cm.).
8. Wash the salted black beans and then slightly crush the black beans in a small bowl. Crush and then roughly chop the garlic cloves. Add the garlic to the black beans and mix together.
9. Prepare the sauce: add the soy sauce, Shaoxing Rice Wine or dry sherry, hoisin sauce, ground white pepper, and sesame oil to a small bowl and mix the ingredients together. Add the water to the corn starch in another small bowl to make a slurry to thicken the sauce later during cooking.

 

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the tripe pieces. Stir fry the tripe pieces and then remove to a bowl.
2. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and then the lotus root. Stir fry the lotus root slices and then remove the slices to the bowl with the tripe.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and the black bean and garlic mixture. Stir fry the mixture and then add the bell peppers. Stir fry the bell pepper pieces and then add the contents of the tripe bowl back into the wok. Mix all the ingredients together.
4. Add the bowl with the sauce to the wok and mix with the other ingredients. Add the corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce and mix with the other ingredients. Remove the ingredients to a serving bowl and serve with steamed rice.

Notes

1. If you can buy fresh lotus root, try to buy a whole section of the lotus root. A whole section consists of the two small “sealed” ends, with the wider “whole” section in between. The wider section has the characteristic lotus root holes. If both ends are not sealed, the inner section of the lotus root (where the “holes” are) will discolor from being exposed to the air, making the sliced lotus root unattractive and possibly inedible.
2. Lotus root can also be purchased already sliced in a sealed package at your local Asian market. However, the pre-sliced lotus root is not as crunchy as the fresh lotus root, but is a good substitute if fresh is not available.