Braised Beef Short Ribs

With the cold winter weather I like making soup or stew for our dinner. I found some very nice beef short ribs at the supermarket the other day and decided to make some stew with some leftover red wine. I love cooking with wine. You can get some real cheap wine online from Jims Cellars which is great for drinking and also for cooking. I love dishes like this as it is hearty and full of flavor. The short ribs are cooked in an aromatic broth for a good two and a half hours. By the time it’s done the meat literally falls off the bone. I added some carrots chunks and potatoes to it as I am too lazy to cook any other dish to go with it. There were some leftovers and it taste even better the second day.

Chinese Beef Stew with Daikon and Carrot

I love daikon especially in soup or stew. I’ve stop eating them for a couple of years after being admitted to the ER for eating too much of it ha ha...Well, I am back cooking it again but this time I know I have to limit my consumption of it. I made this dish a few months ago and only get to post it now as I have put out all the Kelantan dishes first for last month. Do check out the round up here .

Stew beef with daikon is a traditional Cantonese stew and I see a lot of the online recipes called for Chee Hou sauce which is a readymade soy beans, ginger and garlic paste used for braising meat. Since I don’t have it I just add some tau cheong to it. I just love this dish especially the thick sauce that is so perfect over white rice.

Irish Beef Stew

This Irish stew is traditionally made with lamb but since we are not a fan of it so I just used beef. The additional of Guinness beer really add a nice flavor to this rich and hearty stew. The beef is incredibly tender and great to serve it with some crusty bread.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds stew beef – cut into 1” pieces
3 potatoes – peel, cut into chunks
1 large onion – cut into chunks
3 carrots – peel and cut into 1” length
½ cup green peas (optional)
6 cloves garlic - chopped
2 sprig thyme - remove the stems and chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup Guinness Beer
6 cups beef stocks
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Ground Beef Chili

The weather here in PA is telling me it’s time for some Chili. For anyone who is not familiar with the cuisine of the Southwestern United States, this stew-like dish called Chili may be a bit puzzling. Yes, it does usually contain green hot peppers as well as chili powder. The Chili has meat in it and it could be ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey, but Chili can be a vegetarian dish too. You can replace the ground meat with tofu cubes. There are Chili recipes with or without beans, but if you use beans any type of bean will work, including red beans, black beans, white beans, pinto beans, and more. This is an easy, healthy, hearty and inexpensive meal and everyone will love.

Chinese Mustard Vegetable Stew/Chai Buey

I have no plan to post this but my good friend in NZ request for it. So this is for you, sis. I know this is not the best looking dish but they taste really good. So is this dish a vegetable soup or a stew?? I have no clue but when Carlos asked what was I cooking I told him it's a vegetable stew. My mom used to make this from our leftovers roasted meat especially during the 2nd day of CNY. I believe this is a Hokkien dish and it is commonly made when leftover roast meat That's why it's called Chai Buey which means 'leftover dish" in Hokkien. The recipe is simple. You only need 4 key ingredients, which is dried chilies (to give the spiciness), tamarind paste (to give the sourness), Chinese mustard vegetable (kai choy) and some leftover roast meat. Of course, you may always add some garlic, ginger and tomatoes to spice it up a little and salt and sugar to taste.

Some people like using pickle mustard but I prefer using the fresh ones. This is how mustard vegetable looks like. You can get it at any Asian supermarket.

How to cook this dish? There is no exact recipe for it. Just have a big pot ready, add in some oil and heat it up. Add in some sliced ginger and garlic, sauté them. Then, add in some tamarind paste (amount depend on how sour you like) and dried chilies, stir fry them for a few seconds. Once it is fragrant, you may add the meat you have and some water. Once boiled just add in the tomatoes, Chinese mustard and let it stew until the vegetables are soft and tender. Add salt and sugar to taste.

This was how the pot looks like after I put in the vegetables.

After simmering for 2 hours this was what left in the pot.


The end product, spicy, sour and slight sweetness. A great comfort food for me.