Asian Beef Stew

It was a grey, cold and rainy day ( even though it was only the end of august ). Since there wasn't much to do I thought it was a perfect day to stay in and make a hearty stew that would warm you up perfectly.

And that's exactly what happened. This dish is rich and bursting with flavour. The beef melts it your mouth and naturally sweet. Perfect for a miserable day. Or any day.

Asian Beef Stew

Serves: 3 (or two large )

Ingredients

• 400g beef chunks

• spelt flour, enough to cover the beef

• 1tsp Chinese-5-Spice

• 1tsp black pepper

• 1/2tsp garlic granules

• 1/2tsp turmeric

• 1/2tsp salt

• 1 stock cube, dissolved in 200ml water

• 3 star anise

• 2 cinnamon sticks

• 4 kaffir lime leaves

• 1tbsp soy sauce

• 2tbsp dark brown sugar

• 1tbsp high quality balsamic vinegar

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 red chilli, finely chopped

• 1 lemongrass stalk

• half red pepper, sliced

• 2 banana shallots, diced

• 2 large tomatoes, diced

• 1 bottle red wine

• 500ml water

• 250g sweet potato, diced into chunks.

• 2tbsp ground nut oil

• basil, to serve

Method

- Theres a lot of steps here so prepare yourself...

- First start of by preheating the oven to 160 degrees.

- Put the flour in a large bowl. Add in the spices, salt and black pepper.

- Add in the beef chunks and evenly coat the beef.

- Pour the into to a casserole dish over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add in the beef, stir then cover with a lid. Keep doing this until the beef has browned.

- Add in the soy sauce, sugar, balsamic vinegar, garlic, lemongrass, chilli, onions and finally the tomatoes. Stir everything together.

- Finally add in 400ml of the wine and 500ml of water. Stir then cover the dish with a lid. Place it in the oven to cook for 3 hours.

- Check on the dish after 1 hour to make sure the dish isn't too dry. Add additional water/wine if needed.

- halfway, remove the dish from the oven and take off the lid. Add any additional water, if needed and add the remaining wine. Add in the sweet potato.

- Pop it back into the oven with the lid of to reduce and thicken the sauce. Cook for the remainder of the time.

- Once the sauce has reduced and thickened to your liking, serve in a bowl with a sprinkle of basil.

This is a really rich dish so you can reduce the wine and cooking time for a less rich stew. Nevertheless I hope you enjoy this dish ( my dad's original recipe ).