Spicy Vietnamese Beef Stew

Preparation

1. Finely dice the onion
2. Peel and chop the carrots and potato into ~2cm cubes
3. Combine the spice mix in a small container
4. Cut the beef into ~2cm cubes
5. chop up any garnish options you want to use
6. Heat the oil in a large pan
7. Cut the beef into ~2cm cubes and season with salt and pepper
8. Cook the beef in 2 o 3 batches and brown it thoroughly, then set aside
9. Reduce the heat to low and then add the onion and cook over low heat for at least 10 minutes to soften. Add a splash of water to avoid burning any of the colour left behind by the beef
10. Turn the heat up to medium then add the garlic-ginger mix and stir for 30 seconds
11. Reduce the heat again and add the spice mix and stir well. Add another splash of water if the pan is too dry - do not burn the spices! Cook for 1 minute
12. Add the tomato purée and stir in well for another minute
13. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce and stir in, then add the stock and turn the heat back up to bring to a simmer
14. Re-add the beef (and any juice with it) back into the pan, cover with a lid and turn to low. Leave to simmer gently for between 90 minutes and 2 hours
15. Add the carrot and potato and continue to simmer for a further 45-50 minutes
16. Cook the noodles as per the package instructions
17. Drain the noodles
18. Place the noodles into bowls, then ladle the stew over the top
19. Garnish with any of the optional garnish ingredients

Notes

• It would be more correct to use daikon rather than potato. But I love the way potato works in this dish (and in beef stew generally) and in the UK potatoes are more readily available. You could also try white turnip as this is reasonably similar to daikon. Whilst Diakon is a type of radish it is a mild winter variety and normal radish would make for a much hotter dish so substitute normal radish with caution.

Ingredients

• 1kg beef
• 2tbsp oil
• 1 small onion
• 3tbsp garlic-ginger paste
• 2tbsp tomato purée
• 500ml stock
• 700ml water
• 2tbsp fish sauce
• 1tbsp light soy sauce
• 3 carrots
• 1 large potato
• 450g egg noodles
• Spice Mix
• 2tsp madras curry powder
• 2tsp smoked paprika
• 1tsp kashmiri chilli powder
• 2tsp brown sugar
• Garnish
• Basil
• Coriander
• Spring onions

Equipment

Nutritional Facts

• Serving size: 967.4g
• (29% / 36%)   Calories: 726kcal
• (35%)Total fat: 19g
• (21%)   Saturated fat: 4.2g
• (32%)   Unsaturated fat: 11.2g
•     Mono: 8.9g
•     Poly: 2.3g
• (57%)   Cholesterol: 170mg
•   Trans Fat: 0.3g
• (24%)Total carbohydrates: 73g
•   Starch: 0g
• (25%)   Sugars: 7.6g
•     Sucrose: 1.2g
•     Glucose: 1.3g
•     Maltose: 0.3g
•     Lactose: 0g
•     Fructose: 1.2g
•     Galactose: 0g
• (22%)   Fibre: 5.5g
• (136%)Protein: 68g
• Salts
• (75%)   Sodium: 1.5g
• (60%)   Potassium: 2.1g