Beef Stew

I’m not a beef stew kind of person but I had sweet potatoes and a lot of beef so this recipe was just asking for this if you ask me. This is the most delicious beef stew I’ve made and it's also the easiest. It's so delicious and so co comforting and it doesn't hurt that all you need to do is to throw the ingredients together and just wait for the beef to do it's thing.

Recipe

what you need

924g beef chunks, use your favorite cut that also has some fat in it.

2 large sweet potatoes about 300g cut into big cubes*

minced garlic

4 large carrots cut into big cubes*

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 teaspoons favorite spice mix’s*

1 large onion

2 tablespoons chili paste

1/3 cup onion puree

1/2 cup tomato puree

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut oil (the very good kind)*

1 cup frozen peas

Water or Vegetable/low sodium beef stock

• the potatoes and carrots should be the same size cuts so they cook at the same time

• The quantity of oil you'll use depends on how fatty your beef is.

• I used a teaspoon each of my homemade spice mix, one contains cloves, star anise, Calabash nutmeg, anise, grains of Selim and the other contains cumin, coriander, rosemary, thyme, parsely, fennel and sage

Directions

Wash beef and pat dry with a kitchen paper/towel. Place a heavy bottomed pan/skillet over medium heat and add the coconut oil. Allow the oil to heat up and add the beef chunks. Fry until both sides are caramelized then remove from pan and set aside.

Add the sliced onions and fry just until soft and translucent. Add the bay leaf and the tablespoon of the finely minced garlic. Stir and add the ginger. Fry for 1 mins then add the tomato paste. Stir and cook for 3 mins and add the chili paste and tomato and onion puree and stir to combine. Add the beef and the spice mix, stir and add enough water/ beef stock to cover the meat completely, about 5 cups. Add the garlic cloves and salt. Taste and adjust the salt. Cover the pan with a lid and turn the heat too low.

Cook beef for 2 hrs checking at regular intervals to make sure that all the water hasn't evaporated. Add more water/stock if it's not covering meat completely. Taste and adjust salt. When beef is cooked, add the potatoes and carrot and cook until both carrots and potato are soft and a knife can move through easily, stir gently so you don't mush the potato completely. Taste and adjust salt. If beef stew is too thick, add a bit of water to thin it. Always taste and adjust salt when you add water/stock. Add frozen peas and turn off heat.

Serve with steamed rice or my flatbread. It's delicious on its own too.