When it comes to easy dinner recipes, slow cookers are a real life-saver for many of us. After a long day of work, there’s something comforting about coming home to a slow cooked meal that is just finishing up for us, one that we were easily able to throw together in the morning. They can be used to make both savory and sweet dishes, all of them relatively no-fuss. But they can also be used for exciting new recipes as well.
Although the general idea about slow cooked meals is that they’re relatively simple, the truth is that you can always use the same methods to make recipes you may have never tried before. The recipe we’re trying today is for a delicious Indonesian beef stew, complete with hearty veggies on the side. With just a handful of simple ingredients and some spices as well, you’ll have a truly unique beef dinner in no time at all. So let’s get started.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 pounds of cubed beef
- 5 potatoes cut into quarters
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 turnips, chopped
- 5 carrots, chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
- 3 cups of beef broth
- 2 teaspoons of cornstarch
Here’s what you do:
1. To begin, make sure to chop all your vegetables and ingredients so that they’re ready to use. When it’s done, throw in your cubed beef, potatoes, diced onion, chopped turnips, chopped carrots, smashed garlic, soy sauce, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg into your slow cooker. Be sure to mix everything up thoroughly so that it becomes evenly combined.
2. Get out a medium-sized bowl and pour in half of your beef broth along with the cornstarch. Whisk these ingredients together to take all the lumps out and to create a slurry. When this is ready, pour it over the other ingredients and add in the rest of your beef broth as well. Stir everything once more to combine.
3. Finally, when everything is evenly mixed cover the slow cooker and let it cook on low for seven hours or on high for about four hours. At the end of that time, open it up and make sure the beef is tender and cooked all the way through. If it looks good, spoon it out and serve!
As we mentioned, the ingredients of this recipe are just as simple as most other slow cooker dishes you’ve probably tried. Still, the combination of spices in this stew give it a wholly unique, spiced flavor that is all its own. For some added flavor, sear the meat in a frying pan with some oil before dropping it into the slow cooker with the other ingredients (same with the garlic and onions)!
While the recipe above results in well-seasoned, fork-tender beef and veggies, those who have made this a few times can also experiment with their own spices as they see fit. Serve it with some rice as well to fully round out the meal! Above all, have fun with this one and let us know how it all turns out.
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