Recipe: Korean Beef Stew

A friend of mine brought this one time during a potluck dinner and I knew that I just had to immediately ask her for the recipe. Thanks again Mommy Lorie for giving us this recipe! It's sweet, salty and a bit spicy - perfect recipe for something to be cooked over and over and over.

KOREAN BEEF STEW

Ingredients:

• 1 kg stewing beef with bones
• 1 whole garlic
• 1 whole onion
• Large piece of ginger (2-thumbs ginger)
• 3-4 chili peppers
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup of dark soy sauce
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• Salt
• 12-15 stalks of onion leaves
• 1-2 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

• Place the beef in a casserole. Cover with water. Place over high heat and before the water starts to boil, remove the scum that floats on the surface.
• Add the whole garlic, onion, ginger, chili peppers and bay leaf.
• Pour in the soy sauce and stir in the sugar.
• Simmer gently for two hours or until the meat is very tender.
• Halfway through the cooking, taste the broth and add salt.
• Toast the sesame seeds. Place them in a small frying pan and set over med-low heat. Shake pan often for even toasting.
• Slice onion leaves finely
• Place 2-3 pieces of beef individually and ladle plenty of broth over them. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and onion leaves

Recipe: Winter Cranberry Beef Stew

http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/?p=6149

This recipe caught my eye cos I have about 3lbs of untouched cranberries sitting in the freezer. I was a bit discouraged thinking it looked like another tomato-based stew which is quite familiar in the Philippines during Fiestas (they all look the same but the folks say they're called different names).

As what the recipe says, it's exactly how a stew should be - "The meat melted on your tongue and the golden brown gravy was nothing short of a flavor bomb." Looking at the picture, it probably looks like our very own Kaldereta. I'd say it's close but this has more depth in flavor - thanks to the bouillon, red wine and sweetness of the cranberries, my effort wasn't wasted in creating the same dish.

It took me 20 minutes to prepare the ingredients and 2 hours. Around the 1-hour mark, the aroma was so good my EQ dropped and I just had to try it. :) I never really liked dishes that would take more than an hour to make but this one is worth the wait.