East Meets West Beef Stew

East Meets West Beef Stew is a one pot braised beef dish that’s naturally gluten free, easy to prepare and deeply satisfying.

Last month’s Greek Meatballs in Tangy Tomato Sauce was so popular that I was eager to bring you another easy beef dish.

This dish was inspired by one of my favorite cooks, Mark Bittman, in his book How to Cook Everything, The Basics.

Instead of the usual western style tomato flavors, Mark’s original recipe, called Pork Stew with Chinese Flavors, uses ginger, garlic and fresh,hot chili peppers for a slightly spicy Eastern style dish.

Because my husband likes beef stew, I changed the meat to beef and added in my favorite trio of onion, baby carrots and chopped celery.

Stew meat + staple vegetables + Asian spices = the perfect East Meets West Beef Stew.

Once you see how easy it is to make this delicious stew, you’ll want to experiment with your own combination of vegetables and spices.

The best news: You don’t have to sear the meat! This saves time and extra calories from oil.

Gather together all of your ingredients.

Throw them all together in a big soup pot and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours. If you are watching your carbs, reduce the amount of vegetables or just leave out the carrots.

While the stew cooks, boil some rice or rice noodles. Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Spaghetti noodles cook in 10 minutes and taste great!

Just add a few drops of mild oil to the cooked noodles to keep them from sticking.

If you don’t have gluten sensitivities, feel free to use any type of regular noodle.

Remove the meat and veggies when you can easily pierce the meat with a fork. Then turn up the heat and reduce the broth to make a thin gravy.

Just before serving, add in one or more garnishes:

*chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

*thinly sliced scallions

*fresh or frozen green peas.

These fresh pops of bright green

add texture

color

and crunch to your new favorite beef stew.

What’s in YOUR pot these days? 

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Comment below or email anytime dana@diginwithdana.com.

[tasty-recipe id=”7705″]