Asian Beef Stew

from slow cooker cookbook

Serves 6

¼ cup flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp black pepper
3 lbs beef stew cut into 1 inch cubes
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup water
¼ c soy sauce
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp black bean sauce
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp honey
½ lb fresh snow peas
1 can (5 oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained
Fried Chinese Noodles (optional)

Combine the flour, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, ginger and pepper in a plastic bag. Add the meat and shake well to coat. Heat the oil in a large fry pan; then sear the meat on all sides until nicely browned. Place the meat in the slow cooker (or oven proof covered pot). Sauté the onion and garlic in the fry pan until lightly browned and add them to the meat. Combine the water, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, black bean sauce, ketchup and honey. Next add the mixture to the meat and onion and stir well to combine. Cover and cook on low in the slow cooker for 8 hrs. Stir in the snow peas and water chestnuts. Set on high, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Serve with fried Chinese noodles if desired.

We used this recipe to try out my new slow cooker I received for Christmas, and thought you might like to try it to. We did not have black bean sauce, and so I left it out. We substituted a mixture of frozen stirfry vegetables for the snow peas because they also aren’t available in Soda Springs. We used at least one lb of vegetables and probably could have added more. Next time I will probably add a bit more water at the beginning, so I recommend you keep an eye on the moisture level when you try this recipe. It should be just as great when slow cooked in a slow covered pot in a low temperature oven (250 degrees or so).