Traditional Beef Stew

I love the fall and holidays season. We have so much to celebrate in this beautiful fall weather. It starts with our annual cultural event - Durga Puja, then we have Lakshmi puja, Diwali, Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas and New Year. We are always super busy during this whole holiday season. We have invitations lined up, parties at our house and a lot of social events.

I usually end up cooking a lot more in this season than I do the rest of the year. It’s fun but also tiring. Today was a cold and cloudy day and although I was well rested, I started yawning. All of a sudden, I knew what I wanted for dinner - a hot steaming bowl of Beef Stew!

I started making a list of all the ingredients which were required to make the beef stew and surprisingly it wasn’t a long list. Stew is a combination of meat and vegetables, slow cooked for that amazing flavor. This creates that melt-in-the-mouth tender meat enveloped in a deeply flavorful sauce. It takes a few hours to make, but after the stove-top cooking, the recipe is mostly hands-off. 

Serve this delicious stew with hot dinner rolls or freshly baked crusty bread and enjoy! When it’s snowing outside, I love to take a bowl-full of the leftover stew and enjoy it in front of our fireplace.

Ingredients (Serves 2 people):

• Meat - 1 pound, Stew Meat/ Chuck Roast, cut into 2" chunks
• Salt - ½ teaspoon + as required
• Coarse Ground Black Pepper - ½ teaspoon
• All Purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoons
• Unsalted Butter - 2 tablespoons 

• Canola Oil - 2 tablespoons 

• Yellow Onion - ½ of a big onion, chopped

• Garlic - 4 cloves, minced
• Carrots - 2 , cut into 2 inch chunks

• Yukon potatoes - 2, chopped into medium cubes
• Beef Broth - 4 cups 
• Tomato Paste - ¼ cup 
• Bay Leaf - 1 
• Thyme - 1 teaspoon, fresh or dried
• Worcestershire Sauce - 1 tablespoon 
• Fresh Parsley - a handful, washed and chopped (for garnish)

Directions:

• Season the beef chunks with Salt and Black Pepper. Sprinkle the flour on the cubes in a generous way, coating them completely.

• Heat a large dutch oven on medium heat and also preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Add the Butter and Canola Oil to the Dutch Oven and once the butter melts, add the beef cubes in batches.
• Brown the beef on all sides in batches (3-4 minutes per batch).


• After you remove the last batch of the beef, add in the Onions, Garlic and Carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly caramelized.

• Next add the Potatoes in along with the Beef Broth, Tomato Paste, Bay Leaf, Thyme and Worcestershire Sauce. Stir to combine.


• Add the beef back into the pot, cover and cook in the oven for 3 hours.

• Sprinkle chopped Parsley over the cooked stew.
• Serve hot with rolls.

Love Stews? Try these as well:

• Mughlai Mutton Stew
• Goat Stew with White Wine
• Slow Cooked Turkey and Bacon Chili