Slow Cooked Asian Spiced Beef

As it gets cooler it is important to reduce cold foods in our diets and eat more warming meals. It is a fallacy that raw food is more nutritious as it all comes down to how well the body is able to take in the nutrients. Food that is cooked is easier to digest and essential for those of us living in damp cold climates like Britain.

Ingredients

• 1 kg beef shin, diced

• 1 small butternut squash, diced

• 8 banana shallots, peeled

• 3 star anise

• 1 stick of cinnamon

• 1 tsp 5mm pieces of dried tangerine peel

• 1 piece of ginger (thumb sized), grated

• 4 tsp tamari soy sauce

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 tsp sichuan peppercorns

• 1 liter chicken stock

• fresh coriander leaves to serve

Directions

1. 
   Dry roast the peppercorns in a saucepan and transfer to a spice grinder and grind to a coarse powder.

2. Heat a little oil in a large casserole pot and brown the diced beef.

3. Transfer to a plate and add the star anise, cinnamon and ginger to the pan. Stir for a couple of minutes.

4. Return the beef to the pan, adding the shallots, butternut squash, tangerine peel, soy sauce, fish sauce and the ground Sichuan peppercorns.

5. Cover with hot chicken stock. You can add a little more water if necessary.

6. Transfer to the oven and cook at 140 degrees for 4 hours.

7. Then remove the lid and cook for a further 30 minutes.

8. Allow the stew to rest for 30 minutes and then serve generously with chopped coriander, jasmine rice and kimchi.