MY IRISH STEW WITH AN INDIAN TWIST 

I am a big fan of one pot wonders. They save time and in one bowl you can pack a punch with nutrition value

 

Very often all mothers wrack their brains on preparing wholesome delicious meals for their families

 

Guess what, its not that tough.

 

I like to come back from work and make dinner for my family, I find cooking de stressing and I generally put dinner together in half hour. My kids are hanging around in the kitchen doing their leftover homework or just chatting on about their stuff, my husband usually gets home just in time to sit with us for dinner. This is probably my favourite part of the day, sometimes terribly noisy and with three young kids quite crazy, but lots of fun.

 

The following stew is my take on an Irish stew. My family loves it and we had it for dinner last night. Typically the Irish stew is made with lamb or mutton, but in my version you can very easily use lean beef or mutton. I prefer not to use lamb as its a fattier meat.

 

The key is to have some pieces with bone as it enhances the flavour and value of the stew.

 

Ingredients

1 kg mutton or beef with bone

2 large carrots cut into thick discs

2 large onions cut into 8 pieces each

10 baby potatoes or 5 small potatoes or ten chunks of potato

1 whole pod of garlic, washed

1 cup skimmed chicken stock

1 tsp pepper corns

5 cloves

1 tsp crushed pepper

1 tsp each of ginger and garlic paste

A handful of chopped parsley or corriander

1 ltr hot water

Salt to taste

 

Method

1.  Marinate your choice of meat with the ginger garlic paste for a 15 mins
2. Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil
3. Add the cloves and pepper corns when the oil is heating
4. Add the onions and sauté till translucent when the oil is hot
5. Add the marinated meat and garlic pod, and sauté till the meat shrivels up and lightly browns, the meat will start to sweat its natural juices
6. Add the stock and the hot water, salt to taste
7. Pressure cook for 15 mins on simmer after the pressure builds in the cooker
8. Immediately release the pressure and open
9. Add the potato and carrots and pressure cook for 5 mins after pressure builds again
10. Immediately release the pressure, open the cooker, add the crushed pepper, adjust the salt and lastly add the greens
11. On full heat and in an open pot cook till the stew thickens and reaches a creamy consistency, if you find the carrots and potato are fully cooked remove before you begin the thickening process and add back in later when thickened
12. I don't recommend you use a thickening agent, let it thicken on its own

If you like you could do away with the pressure cooker and slow cook for two hours, add the potato and carrot in the last half hour, the results are the same, just that the above will take you 1/2 hour max

 

This stew will be an instant hit, the original version is a lot blander, this is very flavourful and my family love to squeeze out the soft garlic pod and eat it as is its delicious. The meat is very tender and potato and carrots add a wonderful texture.

 

You can add a little boiled rice into the stew and serve your children, its a wholesome meal packed with protein, enough starch, minerals and vitamins and lower in fat than most other meat dishes we cook in an Indian style. The cut of meat is lean and you get the best out of the olive oil and garlic.

 

In our family we make it a point to eat red meat once in a week at least, we have all gone so paranoid about red meat, on the contrary when eaten in the right form and qty it is an integral part of a non vegetarian diet and has many benefits. 

 

Red meat is the only source for vitamin B12 and is rich in iron and other important minerals and vitamins.

All you need to do is google the benefits of red meat !