Tapioca Thread Glass Noodle Soup with Roasted Beef Short Rib and Dry Cured Sweet Sausage

     This soup recipe is similar to the Vietnamese soups that I like to dine on in Chinatown, Las Vegas.  Pho usually refers to rice noodles and not glass noodles.  Clear, see through, glass noodles are usually made from tapioca (cassava) or mung bean starch.  Glass noodles are popular in Vietnamese cuisine and many other asian cuisines.
     Noodle houses in Las Vegas, usually use the name of the noodle first for the entree name and then either the traditional name of specific preparations follows or house creative specialty name of the preparation follows.  Many noodle houses use some pre-prepared items in recipes that can be found in many other asian cuisines.  Some noodle houses make every item in their own kitchen and use no pre-prepared items.  Either way, the quality is nice.  Asian pre-prepared items like meat balls, surimi products, sausage and roasted tofu are actually marketed to restaurants more than the average consumer, yet they are available for consumers at asian markets.
     Sweet dry cured sausage is a very nice quality Chinese product and it is commonly used in cuisines that are not Chinese.  China has enjoyed several thousand years of commercial food trade based on a monetary system.  The influences of Chinese cuisine has touched all of asia at one time or another.  Lomi noodles did not just happen in Malaysia yesterday, they became popular when China offered them as trade a couple thousand years ago.  Dry cured sausages from China have a long shelf life and they too were part of ancient trade commerce.  When you see duck meatballs and sweet dry cured sausage in a Vietnamese pho soup, you should be aware that these items became part of the Vietnamese cuisine, because of an enterprising Chinese food merchant from long ago.  As part of the ancient commerce, food items from Vietnam and all other countries neighboring with China made their way into Chinese cuisine.  A bowl of Vietnamese pho soup has stories of history to tell!
     This beef short rib and dry cured sweet sausage soup is great tasting!  The rich savory semi sweet dry cured sausage becomes tender when it is cooked in the hot broth.  Chinese dry cured sweet sausage is available in asian markets.  This sausage has a very complex Chinese seven spice flavor.
     Roasted short ribs are an old traditional item in many Vietnamese pho soup recipes.  One or two meaty short ribs is usually the portion size for a large bowl of pho soup.  Like many Vietnamese pho soups, the noodles and vegetables make up the higher proportion of the ingredients in the soup.

     This recipe makes one large bowl of soup!

     Roasted Short Rib Recipe:
     Place 1 meaty beef short rib in a small bowl. roasting pan.
     Add 1 teaspoon of thin soy sauce.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of water.
     Marinate the short rib for 5 minutes.
     Place the short rib on a small roasting pan.
     Roast the short rib in a 285 degree oven.
     Slowly roast the short rib, till it becomes fully cooked and brown in color.
     Set the short rib aside.
   
     Tapioca Thread Glass Noodle Soup with Roasted Beef Short Rib and Dry Cured Sweet Sausage Recipe:
     Boil 3 cups of light vegetable broth in a sauce pot over medium high heat.
     Add 1 shoot of lemongrass that is tied in a knot.
     Boil for 5 minutes.
     Remove the lemongrass knot.  (The lemongrass knot can be saved for a second recipe.)
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of thin soy sauce.
     Add 5 or 6 drops of sesame oil.
     Add 2 teaspoons of lime juice.
     Add 1 teaspoon of minced ginger.
     Add 1 minced garlic clove.
     Add sea salt and white pepper.
     Add the oven roasted beef short rib.
     Boil the soup for 5 minutes.
     Add 2 to 3 ounces of thin bias sliced Chinese dry cured sweet pork sausage.
     Lower the temperature to medium heat.
     In a separate sauce pot, start boiling 1 portion of tapioca thread noodles in salted water.  (Tapioca thread noodles take about 10 minutes to cook tender.)
     When the noodles become almost fully cooked, add these vegetables to the soup in the other pot:
     - 2 baby bok choy that are cut lengthwise into quarters.

     - 1 green onion that is cut into bite size pieces.

     - 5 trimmed snow peas.

     - 6 thin slices of daikon radish

     - 1/4 cup of thin julienne sliced bermuda onion.

     Cook the soup, till the noodles in the other pot become tender.
     The soup and noodles should be finished cooking at the same time!
     Ladle the soup into a large soup bowl.
     When the noodles finish cooking, drain the water off of the noodles.
     Place a mound of the tapioca thread noodles on the center of the soup.
     Place 2 large sprigs of Thai basil on the edge of the soup against the rim of the bowl.
     Try to expose the featured short rib and the slices of dry cured sausage, so they can be seen.
   
     This is a nice big bowl of Vietnamese style broth soup that is beautiful to look at and to eat!  A big serving of broth soup is traditional in Vietnamese restaurants.  The flavor of the Chinese dry cured sweet pork sausage is unbelievably tasty!  The roasted beef short rib is very tender after roasting and cooking in the broth.  The thin sliced daikon radish and vegetables should still be slightly crisp to the bite.  The Thai basil is meant to be stirred into the broth to add a crisp fresh flavor.
     The tapioca thread noodles are interesting to eat with chop sticks, because the do become a little bit slick.  Not every asian recipe calls for noodles to be shocked in ice water.  Especially in tropical asian regions.
      This is a delicious chopsticks and spoon soup!  Yum!  ...  Shawna