Preparing the ingredients
Originally uploaded by Manne.
My favourite type of cooking is definitely stews, hot pots and dishes that take for ever to simmer or bake in the oven. This turned out to be a great one.
Found the original recipe on About.com, googling from my mobile while at Tesco to get some inspiration for the evenings dinner.
Ingredients (serves at least 6, or provides for lots of war rations in freezer!)
1 kg stewing beef, cubed
1/2 dl flour
1 tbsp curry powder (or to taste)
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 ribs celery, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
2 smallish sweet potatoes, chopped
1 large leek, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 l beef stock
1 can of peas
1 can of crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
other spices to taste
butter for frying
creme fraiche and coriander for garnishing
Method
I like my vegetables chunky, but chop everything up in sizes that you like.
Take a big zip lock freezer bag and use it to thoroughly mix and cover the diced beef with the flour, curry, ginger, salt and pepper. Set aside.
I prefer to fry things in batches in a wok and then transfer to a big stewing pot, but you can do all of this directly in a big pot, following the same order as below.
In a big frying pan, melt butter and on a medium heat fry the celery with the onion until translucent. Transfer to stewing pot.
Fry the diced floury beef in two or three batches until browned, adding additional seasoning if you like, transfer to stewing pot.
Place stewing pot on medium heat and cover the ingredients with the beef broth, bring to a boil. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
Add crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, leek, carrots and sweet potato, let simmer for another 30 minutes.
Taste, add any additional seasoning if needed. Add the peas and let simmer for another 10 minutes.
Serve piping hot in bowls with a dollop of creme fraiche (full fat, LCHF style!) and some chopped coriander (or chives! I love chives) on top.
