How to Cook Lemongrass-Beef Stew

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 2 hours 30 mins

Ingredients needed to make Lemongrass-Beef Stew:

• 3 lb boneless short beef ribs, chopped into 1 ½’’ dices.
• 8 oz daikon, peeled and sliced into 1’’ strips
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced into 2’’ long strips
• Two 1’’ fresh ginger root, peeled and crushed
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 cups yellow onions, diced
• 2 Thai chiles, stem chopped off
• 1 tsp minced Thai chiles, for serving
• ¼ cup fresh Thai basil, sliced
• ¼ cup lemongrass, finely minced
• 6 cups beef stock
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 whole star anise pods
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp canola oil

Cooking instructions for Lemongrass-Beef Stew:

• Dump the beef chunks into a bowl and pour in a tbsp of oil.
• Season with a dash of salt as well as pepper and toss well to coat evenly; set aside to marinate.
• Pour rest of the oil in a large Dutch oven and heat it over high flame.
• Add the marinated beef, in batches, and cook for about 8-10 minutes or until they brown evenly.
• Drain them out into a rimmed baking sheet and set aside.
• Lower the heat to moderate and throw in the onions.
• Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the chopped onions caramelize.
• Add the garlic and stir fry briskly for half a minute or until they turn fragrant.
• Stir in the tomato paste, minced lemongrass and ginger, along with the whole chiles and star anise.
• Cook for a couple of minutes and pour it into a large clay pot.
• Dump the browned beef into the claypot, along with its juices and fill it up with the beef stock.
• Cook the mixture over moderate heat, until it starts boiling.
• Reduce the heat to low right away and continue to simmer the stew, covered, for about 1 ½ hours, stirring often, until the meat is cooked through.
• Stir in the veggies, put the lid back on and cook for another minute or until they are cooked properly and the meat turns tender and succulent.
• Turn off the heat and whisk in the fish sauce gradually.
• Top it up with minced chile as well as the basil and serve hot in the claypot itself.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Last Updated on February 5, 2013 by