As I sit at my desk and write up my recipes for my blog, I have my recipe books open next to me as references. A few days ago, I had one of them open and on the facing page was a recipe for a Beef Stew made with beer (!) that enticed me so much that I had to try it out. Of course I needed to make several adaptations so I could call it kosher, but it turned out very delicious. Highlighted by the warming tastes of cinnamon and apple, this recipe must be firmly relegated to the winter pile. So if you don’t like the taste of cinnamon in your food, don’t make this. If you do, this is a meat dish for you.
I served it with yellow rice, which I made by adding a quarter of a teaspoon of turmeric to the boiling water I added to the rice. It doesn’t affect the taste, but makes for a very pretty plate.
BEEF STEW WITH APPLES AND BEER
Ingredients
Beef Stew with Apples and Beer
1 kg (2 lbs) beef (I use neck/tzavar – see diagram for a guide to beef cuts in Hebrew)
2 tablespoons oil
2 onions chopped
2 apples chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 chunk of ginger peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon flour
330 ml (11 fl oz) beer
250 ml (1 cup) stock
2 tablespoons chutney
100 g (3.5 oz) tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
How to do it
1. Cut the meat into cubes (about 3-4 cm/2 inches)
2. Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the meat over high heat (keep turning the meat – I add 5 pieces to the pan at a time and by the time I’ve finished adding the last piece, the first piece is ready to be turned). Place meat in a greased baking dish.
3. Add a little more oil to the pan and add the onions, apples, ginger, garlic, curry powder, turmeric and cinnamon and lightly fry.
4. Sprinkle the flour over the ingredients in the pan, mix and add the beer, stock, chutney, tomato paste, salt an sugar. Bring to a boil and pour over the meat.
5. Cover the meat and bake in a pre-heated 170°C (325°F) oven for 1½ hours.
Makes about 4 servings. Serve over yellow rice.
