Chinese braised beef noodle soup - chinese grandma

Ingredients

• 1 or 2 boneless beef shanks, about 1 1/2 or 2 pounds each (it’s just as easy to make two – uses the same amount of sauce and freezes well)
• 1/2 cup Kikkoman soy sauce
• 1/2 cup wine (traditionally rice wine, such as shao xing; but my mom uses sake and says any wine will do)
• 2 cups water
• Two whole green onions, ends trimmed
• 3 to 4 slices ginger
• 8-10 Sichuan peppercorns
• 1 anise seed (optional)
• Chinese noodles (preferably fresh refrigerated wheat noodles, but you can also used dried wheat or rice noodles)
• Chicken broth (my mom likes Swanson), one can for every two servings
• Water
• Salt and pepper
• Soy sauce
• Greens (eg spinach, napa cabbage, bok choy)
• Slivered scallions or chives