Beef Stew w/ Galangal & Juniper: The Recipe

So, have you gone out and bought your galanga powder and dried juniper berries? They are the secret ingredients in this stew. That, and some beer.

Here's that darn recipe for beef stew I keep not writing about.

Ingredients
Main

• 4 Tbs Olive oil, virgin
• 2 kg Stewing beef, cubes (4#)
• 1 kg Onions, julienne (2#)
• 4 cloves Garlic, slightly crushed
• 5 each Shallots, julienne
• 1 kg Green peppers, chopped (2#)

Liquids

• 1 can beer (33 cl)
• 1 liter Stock, beef (1 quart)
• water

Spices

• 1 tsp Galanga powder
• 1 stick Cinnamon, whole
• 2 each Cloves, whole
• 2 each Chili peppers, dried, whole
• 5 each Juniper berries, dried, whole
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Other Stuff

• 400 gr Tomatoes, whole, stewed (14 oz)
• 1/2 kg Potatoes, baby (1#)

Procedure

1. Olive oil into a large deep pan (dutch oven / french oven)
2. Brown meat, in batches, high heat, without the pieces touching. Until they are really really brown, almost so you think it's burnt (although it's not). If water develops in the bottom of the pan drain it off and continue. Water would mean you're "boiling" the meat;and you don't want that. Set aside.
3. Brown the onions in the same pan, medium heat, until soft (not crispy). Add the shallots & garlic towards the end (because they burn more easily). Set aside.
4. Braise the green peppers; until softened
5. Put the onions back in the pan. Put the meat back in.
6. Deglaze the pan with 1 can of beer
7. Add about 1 liter beef stock (not the reconstituted powdered kind). And/or add water to cover.
8. Add galanga powder, cloves, juniper berries, chiles (split and deseeded), cinnamon. Add salt & pepper.
9. Simmer but DO NOT BOIL at any time. Boiling is EVIL.
10. For up to 1 1/2 hours (depending on the meat tenderness)
11. After 30 minutes add the tomatoes.
12. When it's done, the meat is tender, add the baby potatoes (cut in half). Cook for 15 minutes more (for the potatoes)

Notes

1. Never ever ever let the meat boil. Never.
• makes it tough
2. Even better than olive oil is to use peanut oil to sear meat - very hot
• if it stops browning it's too wet; or gets liquidy in the pan; drain it and re-oil & continue searing
• brown it 'til really good and brown and maybe you think it's burnt
3. The French technique is to prepare all the ingredients independently then put it all back together in the pan. It seems like more work but it's actually easier to cook each thing _correctly_ and individually than it is to dig around in a mess of different ingredients cooking together.

Servings: 8
Calories: 715

Republished: due to some horrible formatting errors (thanks Shalee)