Homemade beef stew with potatoes and tomatoes on the stove is so easy to prepare. You just have to cook a pot and you can eat it for a few days. It’s very convenient. The sweetness of the potatoes and tomatoes with the rich beef stew sauce, whether eaten with rice, bread, or noodles, will make you very satisfied.
Beef Stew Recipe
This stovetop beef stew recipe gets by with just 4 spices, pan-fried potatoes and onions, and sweet and sour tomatoes that add even more flavor to this Chinese beef stew. It’s so simple that even beginners can learn to make it right away. Star anise is a spice often used in Chinese stew. You can buy it in any Chinese supermarket or on Amazon. If you can’t buy star anise, you can leave it out.
Beef Stew Ingredients
- Beef – I used beef chuck, but you can use any other braised beef or boneless beef, such as tenderloin.
- Potato – Cut the potatoes about 1.5″ irregularly. The potatoes must first be fried in oil until their surface turns yellow. In this way, the potatoes can develop their sweetness and become very fragrant and delicious.
- Onion – Chop the onions and fry them until they’re translucent so that the beef strew becomes sweet and acquires flavor.
- Spices for beef stew – ginger, star anise, cinnamon, and bay leaf – they’re used to enhance the flavor. Star anise is a spice commonly used in Chinese cooking, especially in stews. You can’t use it if you can’t buy it.
- Tomato – Cut them irregularly to make their taste sweeter.
How to make
- Heat the pot to a high temperature then add oil.
- Put the potatoes in don't turn them immediately. Wait until the bottom is golden brown and turn them again after 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
- Put the beef in the same pot, remembering not to overcrowd it. Turn it after 2-3 minutes, when the bottom has turned a nice brown color.
- Add ginger, star anise, cinnamon and bay leaves and stir-fry for about 1 minute to make them fragrant.
- In the same pot, put the onions, fry them until translucent so that the beef strew becomes sweet and acquires flavor.
- Put tomato over the onion, then add the beef.
- Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup and water and cook on the stove for 1.5 to 2 hours until tender.
- Add the potatoes and 1' large diced tomatoes to the stew in the last 20 minutes.
For the Crock-Pot, Instant Pot beef stew:
If you cook with crock-pot and instant pot, the previous steps 1 to 6 are the same as above, only the stewing time is different. It’s best if you sauté potatoes, beef, and onion first it will have more flavor and be tastier. If you’re lazy today, you can also braise them all in the pot. The time is the same as below.
- Crock-Pot – after you sauté everything. Put everything in the Crock-Pot and add water. Cover the pot and cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
- Instant Pot – Select the meat/stew for 45 minutes.
It’s best to add the potatoes and a tomato in the last 20-30 minutes. If you add them too early, they’ll melt. The larger your potato pieces are, the longer they’ll take to cook. Stir the potatoes and check if they’re cooked.
What do you eat beef stew with?
Instead of steamed rice, you can also try the following Chinese dishes. These are the dishes my family usually eats.
- Beef stew with sauce drizzled on Egg Fry Rice, Vegetable Chow Mein, Vegetable Lo Mein and Shirataki noodles.
- Dipping sauce for Scallion Pancake, which we usually eat for breakfast, snack or as a side dish
Ingredients
- 700 g /1.54 lb beef chuck or stewing or braising beef
- 1 onion ,chopped
- 4 tomatoes ,3 pieces of tomato are cut into pieces. 1 piece of tomato cut into 1" cubes.
- 3 potatoes , cut them into 1.5" cubes.
- 1200 ml water
SPICES FOR BEEF STEW:
- 3 bay leaf
- 2 g cinnamon
- 5 sliced ginger
- 2 star anise
SAUCES:
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables – cut the onion, 3 pieces of tomato into chunks, 1 piece of tomato into 1" cubes. Cut potatoes into 1.5" cubes.
- Prepare the beef – Cut the meat into 4 ~ 5 cm pieces, sprinkle some salt over the beef to dehydrate it, and then wipe it dry with kitchen paper. Set aside. (Note 1)
- Fried potatoes – Heat the pot to high temperature, put the oil in and put the potatoes in. Don't turn them immediately. Wait until the bottom is golden brown and turn them again after 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside. (Note 2)
- Put the beef in the same pot, don't overlap it or squeeze it so it doesn't get watery. Turn it only when the bottom has turned a nice brown color after 2-3 minutes. Add the ginger, star anise, cinnamon and bay leaves and stir-fry for about 1 minute. Then take out the beef on a plate. Set aside.
- In the same pot, put the onions, fry them until translucent so that the beef strew becomes sweet and acquires flavor.
- Put tomato over the onion, then add the beef, soy sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup and water and cook on the stove for 1.5 to 2 hours until tender.
- In the last 20 minutes, add the potatoes and 1' large diced tomatoes to the stew.
- Ready to serve.
Tips & Notes:
- In this way, the beef is seared in the pan and gets a nice brown color and doesn’t become watery. It makes the beef tastier and juicier.
- The potatoes don’t need to be cooked, they’ll be braised later along with the beef. But if they’re fried on the surface, they’ll taste sweeter and more delicious with the beef stew.
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