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If you're interested I can try and explain my family's recipe for Taiwanese beef noodle soup. Its not fussy or impossibly esoteric. The ingredients might take explaining, but one trip to an Asian market should cover all bases.
The rest is throwing everything in a pot and forgetting about it.

Active time shouldn't keep you at the stove for much more than half an hour, plus it keeps really well in the freezer or fridge for subsequent meals.

I hope you don't mind the "little bit of this, little bit of that" approach...(if anyone has a good technique for converting this method of cooking into more user-friendly recipes, please let me know).

I'll split this up a bit. This is not as complicated as it seems.

For the soup:
Small handful fermented black beans (soaked for at least half an hour. You'll most likely be able to get the dried kind, the soft, moist kind is rather hard to get)
Good dark soy sauce - you'll only need a glug or two. This is not the main flavor base of the soup.
Garlic cloves, smashed and peeled - lots of it
A few pieces of star anise
Canned whole, peeled tomatoes - (one medium can should do it, any more and the soup's astrigency gets thrown out of balance, IMO)
Two cans low sodium beef broth
Water

Beef
You'll want a fatty cut with a lot of connective tissue - good for long slow cooking.
Traditional stewing beef will not cut it, it will get tough and stringy and doesn't absorb or yield much flavor.
If we can, we use niu nan...something similar to beef plate, but not quite. Im not sure if theres an equivalent cut in Western markets.

Info on niu nan from Chowhound (note the beef noodle soup listed there is not the same as this recipe. This one is distinctly Taiwanese in origin, the other is more mainland Chinese and is like a braised beef dish):
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/323500

Beef tendon with some meat attached or beef shank is also okay. Have the butcher cut it into chunks or do it yourself.

Additions:
Baby bok choy (or regular bok choy if that's all that can be found), briefly cooked through
Suan cai ("pickled mustard green" - not to be confused with za cai "preserved mustard green". Suan cai is literally "sour vegetable" and is pickled in brine. It can be found refrigerated in a plastic package filled with brine. The latter is usually packed dry or in chili paste and is very salty rather than sour), roughly diced
Siracha garlic and chili paste - Taiwanese beef noodle soup is traditionally served spicy, but the chili sauce can be added to each person's bowl as to their liking.
Chopped cilantro if desired

To be served over white rice noodles.

Putting it together:

Drain your fermented black beans that have been soaking until soft. Drain well and discard soaking liquid.

Throw them into a large, hot , pot. Add your garlic gloves and a glug or two of soy sauce, enough to moisten the beans and garlic, but not enough to coat the bottom of the pot. (mind you if you slip a little, just add more water to dilute).

Stir the mix to keep it from sticking and brown lightly until fragrant.

At this point, add your beef. You don't need to brown the beef at all, if you don't want to, its not essential for the robustness of the soup.

Pour in the beef stock, and add enough water to cover the top of the beef and then some. Add your can of tomatoes, drained of any liquid in the can. Throw in the star anise.

Now leave the pot on a steady simmer and walk away. Go read a book or do the NYT crossword puzzle. The soup won't be ready until the garlic is mellow and falling apart, and the meat is fork tender.
Salt to taste.

This can all be done in a slow cooker, of course.

Right before serving:
Dunk your bok choy in boiling water until just cooked through.
Boil the rice noodles until al dente.
Chop the suan cai.

In each bowl, pile some of the rice noodles, bok choy and suan cai. Ladle the beef soup over the top.
Add cilantro and chili paste as to taste.

What about Cuban? There's a great book called Memories of a Cuban Kitchen that has lots of great authentic dishes. My Cuban mom always recommends it. I've also got some guava stuffed pork on my blog that may be categorized as exotic.

For Indian, I second @charmcitycupcake's recommendation of Madhur Jaffrey's book. Really great and simple recipes. And the leftovers are always delicious.

I don't have a Camaro - my maiden name is Camero, hence the nickname :) If I had one, you could most certainly drive it!

@bitchincamero: After visiting your blog, I learned about the maiden name thing, but only after I made an S/E comment in reference to your screen name being the same as the title of a funny Dead Milkmen song. I don't know what age demographic you're in, but have you even heard of the Dead Milkmen?

@Susquehanna - Yep! That's where the nickname came from. Someone started calling me bitchincamero in grad school (a fan of the Dead Milkmen), it caught on and I just had to buy the URL :)

@evilchefmom--I visited your blog awhile back, I should have said hello, but I'm somewhat new to all this blogging business, and am not sure of blog ettiquette. I will check in the next time I visit your blog!

btw--there is currently a thread on SE about gochujang--Korean red pepper paste--you might want to read it because there is a link to Korean recipes. Yes, I threw in my two cents on that thread, too. haha

http://steamykitchen.com/blog/
(Jaden's Steamy Kitchen- she's got great pics and yummy recipes!)

I second the cuban food idea! I used to live in Florida & I miss getting good cuban food! You can't find good plantains in Denver!