Beef & Lo Mein Bowl with Turmeric Spice Broth

A warming, grounding bowl of spiced ground beef and lo mein noodles simmered in golden chicken bone broth — born in the JenZen kitchen on a fall afternoon, tested and approved by a very discerning two-year-old.

SERVES

2 servings

PREP

About 10 minutes

COOK

About 30 minutes

Ingredients

1/3 lb ground beef
½ cup fennel, sliced thin
1 medium shallot, sliced
A couple small bok choy thinnings (or a small handful of bok choy)
1-inch piece fresh turmeric, grated or sliced thin
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp ground coriander
Pink Himalayan salt and black pepper to taste
Butter for sautéing
3 cups chicken bone broth
Lo mein noodles (1–2 portions, cooked to package directions)
Splash of fresh lemon juice
Nutritional yeast to taste

Instructions

Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add fennel, shallot, bok choy, and fresh turmeric. Sauté until softened and fragrant, about 5–7 minutes.
Add cumin seeds, ground coriander, salt, and black pepper. Stir to coat the vegetables and toast the spices for another minute or two.
Add ground beef directly to the pot. Break it apart and cook through with the vegetables until browned, about 8–10 minutes.
Pour in chicken bone broth. Bring to a gentle simmer and let the flavors come together for 10 minutes.
Add lo mein noodles and cook according to package directions until tender.
Finish with a splash of fresh lemon juice and a generous dusting of nutritional yeast. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
Serve warm in deep bowls.

Some of the best recipes come together the way this one did — a little intuition, whatever the garden and pantry offered, and a granddaughter at the table to keep you honest. This bowl started as a simple lunch and turned into something worth writing down.

Ground beef, sliced fennel, shallot, and fresh turmeric from the garden go into butter first — slow and fragrant — layered with cumin seed, coriander, and a generous grind of black pepper. Chicken bone broth comes next, carrying it all into a golden, deeply nourishing broth. Lo mein noodles finish it, along with a splash of lemon and a dusting of nutritional yeast that adds a quiet, savory depth you won’t want to skip.

It’s a vata-season bowl through and through — warming, grounding, and filling in all the right ways. Pitta friends can pull back on the spices and skip the lemon. Kapha can ditch the noodles entirely and pile in more vegetables. It’s a flexible recipe that meets every constitution where it is.

From the JenZen Kitchen

Fennel, shallot, bok choy, and fresh turmeric sautéing in butter

Process — vegetables and butter

Ayurvedic Perspective

This is a vata-pacifying bowl from the first ingredient to the last. Butter, bone broth, and lo mein noodles are grounding and unctuous — exactly what vata needs as the air turns cold and dry. Fresh turmeric and cumin seed kindle agni (digestive fire) without overwhelming it. Fennel is one of Ayurveda’s quieter superstars: tridoshic at its core, gently carminative, and deeply supportive of healthy digestion. The warming quality of this bowl is real — my granddaughter reported a warm head by the end of her bowl, which is the best kind of review.

For pitta: skip the lemon and ease back on the spices. The bowl is still nourishing and satisfying without the heat.

Explore the Ingredients

Each ingredient in this recipe offers its own unique qualities and actions in the body. In Ayurveda, food is more than nourishment — it is medicine. Click below to learn how these ingredients support balance, digestion, and overall well-being.