Beef & Cashew - Sweet and Yum (Stews & Sauces)

Member Name: katygriff

Product:	Stews & Sauces
Date:	11/11/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice Flavours

Disadvantages: Can be Expensive

I am not a big fan of a stew but in the winter my mom makes this recipe and I love it. It is the one stew that I get excited about eating and I do like to make myself. It also gets me to eat beef in this form which is rare for me so this is my recipe for a beef and cashew nut stew. The only thing is that there is quite a few ingredients to use and does work out quite expensive if you are making a lot of it.

Ingredients:

* Beef stewing steak or any kind of beef you can use for stew but we always go for the best.
* Onion
* Cashew Nuts - not roasted or salted
* Carrots
* Green pepper
* Potatoes - a nice selection that you can boil and they will be all soft and floury
* Red wine - always good!
* Beef stock
* Sugar

I havent added much in the way of measurements as like most of the things I make I do guess but with the beef and potatoes if you get enough for the amount of people you are cooking for. Usually I buy a 2.5kg bag of potatoes and use half. With the beef I just use a packet which is usually around 250g if I am cooking for just me and Dave.

Ok so this is how you do it. Fry your onion in a little oil until golden brown. Add a teaspoon of sugar for a minute whilst mixing with the onion. Add the meat so you can get this nice and browned so it cooks nicely. In the meantime chop all of your vegetables so the carrots and pepper and potatoes. When you are satisfied that the meat will be ok then add just under a pint of vegetable stock and the red wine. We always use one of those individual bottles of wine so we can just stick it all in.

Add the vegetables to the mix and then bring to the boil and leave boiling. Add the cashew nuts at this stage as you want them to go nice and soft and gain all of the flavours too. Then put in the oven at about 200.

I leave this stew cooking usually for about an hour and a half but this is because I brown the meat very well indeed but it can be left for a lot longer. The best way is to feel the meat and see if it is as soft as you like it to be.

We serve this stew on its own with some nice crusty bread and it is delicious. What you find is because of the sugar and the cashew nuts, the stew has quite a sweet flavour but not too sickly. The meat I like as it is extremely soft and tender and you know it is well cooked as if I find one bit of red then it turns me off my whole meal.

The stew is not that filling on its own I find so you do need the bread but the bread used to mop up all of the sauce is delicious. The stew does not let you get overpowered by the wine flavour either but you can still taste it is there which is nice. Then the cashew nuts are very soft so even if you are not a fan usually you might like them in this as they mop up all of the juices.

The final thing to tell you about this meal is that it is nice on a very cold winters or autumn day so give it a go. It is also a firm family favourite as it seems to work out every time.

In conclusion I think that if you are after a stew to make this one is particularly nice and stews are always quite easy to make and then leave to cook while you make your house ready for guests so it is a winner in my books. Plus any recipe that can actually make me like beef in this way has to get some votes.

Thanks for reading.

xxx

Summary: Lovely Dish