Aromatic Garlic-Ginger Beef Stew Recipe

Think of beef stew, and you'll likely picture a hearty, traditional meal of meat and gravy, perfect for those long cold autumn and winter days when food should be rich and comforting. It is a dish common to England, but in this version, devised by Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye, the flavors are more typically associated with East Asian cuisine to create something a little different. When it comes to a beef stew, there are a number of different cuts of meat you could choose, but as with all good beef stews, time is really the key ingredient and the one thing you can't skimp on. 

For this recipe, beef shin is stewed over a long period of time to allow all the connective tissues to break down, resulting in a melt-in-the-mouth texture that is to die for. The super tender and flavorful beef is combined with the fiery, earthy, and pungent flavors of garlic and ginger, along with a few aromatic spices, to make for a really comforting and warming dish; the perfect accompaniment to a cold winter evening. So if you're looking for something a little different for dinner tonight, why not try this super tender garlic-ginger beef stew?

To begin this aromatic garlic-ginger beef stew recipe, first, you will need to gather the ingredients. For the base flavors, you will want an onion, garlic, ginger, and red chile. For the stew, you will need cooking oil, beef shin, star anise, Chinese five spice, flour, beef stock, soy sauce, brown sugar, tomato paste, and salt and pepper to season the dish.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. 

Place the onion, garlic, ginger, and red chile into a food processor and blend to form a paste. Place to one side.

Heat up an oven-safe, large, lidded skillet pan over a hob to medium-high heat, and season the beef shin with salt and pepper.

Add the cooking oil to the pan and then the seasoned beef shin, and cook the meat for 4 to 5 minutes until it is well browned, before removing from the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the blended onion, ginger, and garlic mixture to the pan, then fry the curry paste for 5 minutes.

Add the Chinese five spice to the pan along with the star anise, mix these into the curry base, and allow them to cook for a minute or two.

Add the browned beef back to the pan, add the tablespoon of flour, and mix everything together to thoroughly coat the beef.

Add the beef stock, soy sauce, sugar, and tomato paste to the pan and mix everything once again, then bring to a simmer.

Place the lid on the skillet pan and then transfer the beef stew to the preheated oven. Leave it to braise, covered, for 2 ½ hours.

Remove from the oven and serve with rice, mashed potatoes, roasted root vegetables, or another chosen side.

This stew is delicious served on top of a bowl of freshly cooked basmati rice, or creamy mashed potato; think of it like an Asian-inspired type of stew-like beef bourguignon. However, if you don't fancy preparing any side dishes, or you don't have the time, it is possible to add some extra ingredients to this aromatic garlic-ginger beef stew to make it a one-pot meal.

Carrots and potatoes are great root vegetables to add to this dish, or, for something a little different, parsnips, swedes, or even sweet potatoes are delicious options to make this recipe a one-pot meal. Due to the long, slow stewing process of the meat, it isn't a good idea to add raw root vegetables at the beginning of the cooking time. If they are left in the oven too long, they will turn to mush; you'll want them deliciously soft and cooked through, but not disintegrating. So, it is best to add the extra ingredients when the stew has 1 hour left to cook. Simply remove the dish from the oven and add the peeled and chopped vegetables along with ½ cup of water. Mix everything together, replace the lid, and put the dish back into the oven to finish cooking.

Recipe developer Rye uses beef shin, otherwise known as beef shank, for this aromatic ginger and garlic beef stew. Shin is an ideal cut of meat for braising due to being full of connective tissue and rich in collagen; it also happens to be one of the most affordable cuts of beef, making it great for your wallet as well as your tastebuds.

If you can't get your hands on beef shin, there are several other great cuts of beef that you could consider using as substitutes for this aromatic garlic-ginger beef stew. Beef chuck is a highly flavorful and affordable, tough, and fatty cut of meat from the shoulder area of the cow. While it isn't suitable for quick cooking, the long slow cooking time allows for this cut to become mouth-meltingly tender, and it's strong meaty taste gives the stew heaps of rich flavor.

For a slightly more trendy take on this dish, you could consider using oxtail. Once considered to be a cheap off-cut, this cut of beef is now highly prized within the culinary world and has a price tag to go along with it. The tissues, collagen, bone, and muscle fibers in oxtail give a resulting stew intense flavor, and the meat literally falls off the bone when cooked low and slow; it's no wonder this cut of beef is so well loved.

With the knowledge that the meat in this recipe will be stewing in the oven for a few hours, it may seem a bit surplus to requirements to also brown the beef before it stews. However, if you are tempted to skip this step to make the assembling stage of this recipe a little speedier, please know that the process of browning beef is really important for the resulting flavor of the dish.

The purpose of browning the outsides of meat is not to cook it through, instead, applying a high heat to the outside of the beef causes a chemical reaction known as the Maillard reaction. This amino acid-based reaction develops the flavors and aromas of the meat, adding to the eventual meaty richness of the stew. As well as adding mouthwatering flavor to the resulting stew, it goes without saying that nicely browned meat is far more appetizing visually, and we eat with our eyes as well as with our mouths.