Chinese Slow Cooked Beef

I haven't done a recipe post for quite some time, so I thought I had better get to it. One of my new year's resolutions for 2013 is to learn how to make a great pizza. But the days have been so gloomy and cold so far, comfort food is what I have been craving most of the time. And easy comfort food at that. Hello, lovely slow cooker. So, here is a recipe for Chinese Slow Cooked Beef, a delicious, spicy, sweet and hot dish, all cooked in the slow cooker for ultimate ease. It is adapted from a couple of recipes from BBC Good Food- I like to tweak things to my taste.

First of all, start with about half a kilo of fresh stewing beef. (I really recommend going to your local butcher for this- horsemeat scandal not withstanding!). Cover the beef in flour and brown for about 5 minutes in a pan with olive oil.

Then here is the spicy part. Take a bunch of spring onions, 2 chillies (or 3 if you like it really spicy), a 3 cm square of fresh ginger and 3 cloves of garlic. Chop chop chop. (You can grate the ginger, but I am lazy and it goes all lovely and slow cooked anyway).

Then, add the beef and the chopped items to the slow cooker. The chopping isn't over yet though- chop up half a large white onion and add that too. Then add 2 tablespoons of sherry (a good way to use up that Christmas stash!), 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of clear honey. Also add 1 heaped teaspoon of chinese five spice and a beef stock cube.

 

Add water until it just covers the beef and then slow cook on low for about 6 hours. I serve this with fresh steamed cabbage- it's a great combination!

 

So there you have it, an easy, delicious slow cooker beef recipe that will add some spice into your comfort food.

 

Recipe:

Serves 4

1/2 kilo of stewing beef

1/2 white onion

2 red chillies

1 bunch of spring onions

3 cloves of garlic

3cm square of fresh ginger

2 tbsp sherry

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp of brown sugar

1 tbsp of honey

1 tsp Chinese 5 spice

1 beef stock cube

 

Brown the beef for approxmately 5 minutes. Then add into the slow cooker with all of the ingredients and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with freshly steamed vegetables.