Sit back and let the oven do the work.
This cheap, one pot dish is great when you have time on your side and basic ingredients. Could be a lazy Sunday dinner.
Ingredients
(Servers 4)
400g braising steak (beef)
2 x large onion
2 x carrots
1 x leek
500ml Guinness (any other beer, ale or stout is fine too)
3 x large garlic cloves
2 x beef stock cubes
1 x tablespoon chilli flakes
1 x tablespoon cumin powder
1 x tablespoon paprika
1 x big squeeze of ketchup (15g ish)
45g plain flour
Optional Dumplings
200 g self-raising flour
100 g unsalted butter
OR
Ready made dumpling mix (i don’t judge)
2 x Potato – if you want to serve with a jacket potato
Basic Summary
- Chop veg, beef, and crush garlic
- Measure out both flours and butter
- Brown beef in pan
- Add spices to beef
- Add onions, carrots, and leeks to the pan
- Add flour to stew and mix
- Add beer
- Add garlic and ketchup
- Add stock and water
- Cook for at least 100 minutes
- Combine flour and butter, and roll dumplings into balls
- Add dumplings and cook for 25 mins with lid off
Prep.
TIP: Read through the full recipe before starting.
Chop all your veg up into large chunks.
Peel and crush the garlic
Cut the steak into big cubes
Measure your flour for the stew
Get the kettle on and fill up a jug of 400ml boiling water, and stir in the stock cubes to dissolve
Preheat oven at 180°C
If making dumplings, measure out your extra flour and butter
Make.
{Preheated oven at 180°C}
Get your largest casserole dish on the hob at a medium to high heat.
When the pan is hot, add about 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan.
Add your beef and spread out in order to lightly brown.
After 4-5 minutes your beef should be nice and brown all over. Now add your chilli flakes, cumin powder, and paprika.
Now add your onions, carrots, and leeks to the pan.TIP: If the pan is getting slightly dry and food is sticking too much, just add a touch of water to loosen it up. This water should evaporate over time anyway. but don’t add too much. You want the pan to be dry enough to brown the meat and sweat the veg a little.
Cook the veg with the beef for about 3 minutes, then add half the flour and mix well.
TIP: The flour should cling to the beef and veg, making the pan even drier.
Once mixed in, repeat with the remaining flour.
As soon as the flour is mixed in add your Guinness or beer to the pan. Making sure to take a slip of the beer as well if you want!
Let this reduce a little, and stay on the heat for 2-3 minutes. Or until it starts to thicken.
Now add your garlic and big squeeze of ketchup, and mix well.
Now add your beef stock water (400ml)
TIP: Add as much of this water as you need. You may feel like you only need half or three quarters to have a good consistency. You want the stew to be slightly thinner than you want to serve it as it will thicken up in the oven.
Season with salt and pepper, then put in the preheated oven with a lid on for at least 1 hour 45 minutes. This will give enough time for the steak to be really tender and fall apart when eating.
Feel free to check up on the stew every now and then, adding more water if too thick. Checking the beef to see when it is at your desired tenderness. I prefer it falling apart easily with a fork. Hence the 2 hours of cooking.
…
Optional Dumplings
Combine your flour and cold butter, and season with salt and pepper.
TIP: Try grating the butter into the flour to make it easy to combine.
OR
Add water to your ready made dumpling mix.
Separate into as many balls as you wish. The larger they are the longer they cook for. I tend to go for ping pong size balls and have lots that cook quickly!
Add your dumplings to the stew and cook for 20-30 minutes (depending on size). Resting them on the top so they have submerged in the stock. Leaving the lid off in order to brown the tops.
NOTE: The stew will thicken up without the lid on in the oven for 20-30 minutes so make sure it is not too thick at this stage. Loosen with a splash of water if already at desired thickness before adding dumplings.
Enjoy.
Enjoy with a jacket potato, mash, or even on it’s own in a bowl with crusty bread!
Prep. Make. Enjoy. 