Lately I’ve been hoping to learn how to make some quick Chinese dishes and I’ve found some good websites with recipes that sound pretty interesting and not too complicated. I had some stew meat tonight and I am bored of regular stew, so I went online and found this Chinese stew recipe – it is actually pretty good! 
Here are the original recipe instructions – my changes are below the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
- 2 lbs stewing beef or pork shoulder, cube 3/4″ – 1″
- oil (vegetable, peanut, Canola)
- 1 lb vegetable, cut up (carrots, lo bok, etc)
Seasonings
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut in large chunks – to taste (leek works well too)
- 1-4 clove garlic, smashed
- 1 piece fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
- 2 star anise (opt for beef)
- 1-2 piece chinese dried orange rind (opt for beef)
- chile, fresh or dried (optional)
Sauce
- 2-4 teaspoons brown sugar (start with the smaller amount and add more if desired)
- 2/3 cup soy sauce (use a combination of light and dark in any proportion)
- 2 teaspoons dry sherry
- 2 cups boiling water
Directions
-
*Staranise comes in the form of an eight point star. each point having an anise seed in it.
-
Most of them are broken up so use a total of eight points, more or less, to taste.
-
**Theorange (or tangerine) peel has a slightly bitter taste that I like better with beef but this is personal taste.
-
It comes in plastic bags and has a long shelf life.
-
Start by browning the meat in a few T of oil.
-
Do it in batches so it gets well caramelized.
-
When the last of the meat is well browned, remove it all to a bowl.
-
(Add more oil as needed).
-
Add the onion, garlic, ginger, anise, orange peel and chiles to the wok (or pot); keep cooking, stirring frequently, until the onion starts to brown.
-
Stir in the meat along with the sauce, bring it to a full boil, stir well and reduce heat to simmer.
-
Cover the pot and simmer for 1 hour (pork) or 2 hours (beef).
-
Adjust seasonings, add the vegetables and simmer, covered for another half hour.
-
Before serving, remove all the pieces of ginger, star anise, orange peel, chile, etc.
-
Serve with steamed rice or boiled noodles.
So, I didn’t have all the ingredients (big surprise) so here’s what I did as an alternative (hubby said it was really yummy). I used the following veggies and sauted them and added to the already cooked beef stew meat (as was directed in recipe): celery, onion, garlic, red and yellow sweet peppers, brown mushrooms. I also didn’t have star anise but I did have anise seeds so I just threw a few in, and I didn’t have ginger so I just added approx 1/4 tsp powdered ginger…so obviously I didn’t remove them from the stew as directed in the recipe. I also did not have the chile or orange rind so I just left them out – I’m sure it would be better if they were included as expected.
Filed under: Main Dish, Recipe Review | Tagged: chinese beef stew
