Beef Stew with Dumplings (seasonal mid-winter food)

[mific]

it got a bit colder here in the past week, and I felt like stew. This makes about 6 individual serves if served with crusty bread, additional veggies, rice, mashed potatoes, etc. Or it makes 4 serves if all you're having is the stew or you're hungry. :)

Stew Ingredients:
a) The frying game

2 pounds or 1 kg beef stew meat, cut into cubes

2 tablespoons cornflour or potato flour

2 tsp minced garlic

Black pepper to taste

4 tablespoons olive oil or other cooking oil

b) Wet stuff and herbs

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

2 bay leaves

2 cups water with 2 tsp sugar or equivalent sweetener

2 cups red wine or beer

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tsp Beef stock concentrate or 3 cubes (I use Better than Bouillon concentrate)

c) Veggies and dumplings stage

3 large potatoes cubed (i.e. 1 spud more than most recipes say as I'm fond of potatoes) :)

2 large onions coarsely chopped 

2 large carrots sliced or chopped

2 cups chopped celery

1 cup frozen peas

 

Instructions for Stew:

Toss beef with flour in a bowl. Fry floured beef with black pepper and garlic until it's browned all over (best to do this in two lots or it'll stew not fry) then put all the beef into a really big pot and add tomato paste, paprika and herbs and all the liquids, and simmer 1.5 hrs. I also heat the residue in frypan with 1/2 cup water, dissolve as much as possible, and add to the stew. Then add the veggies and simmer another 30 min. Stir and taste stew now and add salt as needed. Add the peas, stir in. Add the dumplings (recipe below) and simmer another 30 min, lid on. At the end, you can remove the dumplings and thicken the stew with a little cornflour if needed - mostly, with dumplings, you don't need to. 

GF Dumplings:

2 cups GF flour (I use a mix of potato and rice flour)

1 tsp sodium bicarb

1 tsp dried mixed herbs, a little salt and pepper

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or (firm) coconut oil

1 tsp cider vinegar

Add all to a bowl then rub in the fat. When it's all crumbly and mixed, add the vinegar and if necessary, a very small amount of water until it forms a solid mass. Roll into 6-8 balls and when all are done, space them out on top of the simmering stew for the last 30 min of cooking - with the pot's lid on. 

If you're cooking for 1 or 2, you might want to make the dumplings then just cook the no. you want for 1 meal. Wrap each of the extras in clingfilm and freeze them, plus the leftover stew. Then, thaw the stew and the raw dumplings, add a little water to stew if needed, and simmer the thawed stew with dumplings on top for another 20- 25 min. 

Comments

Mmmm, stew.

[jesse_the_k]

I have to remind myself to come back to this one when it's winter-for-us, because this looks hearty as all get out.

I'm very glad to hear that Better than Bouillon is global.

(Also, the frying game !!!!!)

Re: Mmmm, stew.

[mific]

Yeah, I got a bunch of B than B flavours through mailorder. I guess it'd take longer to reach me now.