Smore (Eurasian Beef Stew)
This is an Eurasian dish, not to be confused with the American dessert made with toasted marshmallows (s'mores).
Ingredients
Marinating
- 300 g beef shank
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tablespoons ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 4 tablespoons dark soya sauce
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 420 ml water
Cooking
- 3 onions
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, julienned
- 10 cm piece cinnamon, rinsed
- 100 g small carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally
- 3 potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 1 tomato, quartered
- Spam (optional)
- Chicken hot dogs (optional)
- 1 sprig coriander leaves, leaves plucked
Method
- Wash and cut beef into 2.5 cm chunks.
- Drain in colander.
- Combine beef with bicarbonate of soda, pepper, salt, sugar, vinegar and dark soya sauce.
- Leave for 30 minutes to marinate.
- Grind onions and garlic together.
- Soak carrots and potatoes in water.
- Heat oil in a pot. When hot, fry ground onion and garlic, shredded ginger, and cinnamon until the onions are brown and fragrant.
- Add marinated beef. Fry until meat changes color.
- Add water and simmer until meat is tender. Stir occasionally to prevent meat from sticking to pot. Add more water if gravy is too thick, and season accordingly.
- Add carrots and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add potatoes and cook until soft.
- Add tomato. If you like, you may add a tin of Spam luncheon meat, cut into thick slices or chicken franks at this step.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.