We all know the benefits of slow cooking: nutritious and delicious meals, time saving, and easy! There’s no debate about the benefits. Still, I do not know many people who slow cook and, frankly, I rarely take advantage of slow cooking. I am now ready to embrace the art of slow cooking – you really can’t mess it up.This Vietnamese beef stew is normally cooked on a stove on low heat to keep the beef tender. Using a slow cooker, the process is even more delayed causing a harmony between the meat and the other ingredients.
I hope you’re not bored of my “slow cooker” recipes yet.
In this beef stew recipe, I cheated and used store-bought stew seasoning instead of having to use all ingredients on my own. Beef stew is always a requested dish when we have pot lucks at my mom’s but I’ve never tried beef stew in the slow cooker before.
Things to take away from this recipe:
- Sear your beef in the stove top so all of the seasoning can be well absorbed
- Use lowest setting possible (if time permits) to ensure a more tenderized beef
- Add potatoes 30 minutes after adding carrots
- When preparing potatoes, wash them and soak into water until ready to add to the crockpot
- Drain potatoes through a colander just before adding them to the pot to prevent the potatoes from darkening
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- 2 lbs of beef chuck (stew) or beef shank - cut into 1 inch cubes
- ½ knob ginger (sliced)
- 1 tablespoon of beef broth powder (or salt)
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (to marinate beef)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 tablespoon of beef stew seasoning powder
- ½ tablespoon of garlic powder
- 1 stalk of lemongrass (bruised and sliced into 4 inch stalk)
- 2-3 medium sized carrots (chopped)
- 8-10 small red potatoes (peeled, chopped in half)
- 1 small can of tomato paste
- 3 cups of water
- 1 cup of coconut soda (or coconut water)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the beef with garlic powder, beef broth powder, beef stew seasoning powder and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
- In a medium sized saucepan, heat 2 tablespoon of oil, minced garlic and sear the beef under medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Transfer the beef from the pan into the slow cooker. Add in ginger, tomato paste, lemongrass, coconut soda, water. You may need to add more water to cover and submerge the beef
- Set the slow cooker to the lowest setting (8hours or 10 hours) and allow the beef to cook covered.
- About 1 hour before time expires, add in carrots. Then add in potatoes 30 minutes after adding in carrots. Be careful not to overcook the potatoes as they tends to get mushy.
- Season to taste and serve with baguettes and squeeze on lime.
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