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Chinatown Beef Sandpot
From Dorothy McNett's recipes at www.dorothymcnett.com. The long slow method of cooking meats of all kinds dates back to very early years in China. And then it became famous in San Francisco's Chinatown and is still used often. A stew is a stew! If you do not have a typical Chinese sandpot, use a claypot, tagine, or a heavy bottomed stock pot. Isn't it fun to note that not everything Chinese is stir-fried!! You will enjoy these flavors, have some cooked rice or noodles for serving.
4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
about 1 tablespoon ginger root, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3-4 tablespoons peanut, corn, or olive oil
1-2 carrots or other root vegetable, cut into chunks
1 pound boneless beef chuck, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 tablespoon Chinese Five Spice powder
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, as desired
1 cup beef or vegetable stock
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Chinese rice wine, or dry sherry
2 tablespoons raw sugar
Soak the dried mushrooms in about 1/2 cup or more water for about 30 minutes. Since the beef will be cut into chunks, you will want to chop the vegetables instead of slicing them so that they will be similar in shapes to the beef chunks. Chop the garlic, ginger, and onion. Heat heavy bottomed stock pot or deep skillet, add the oil. When hot, saute the garlic, ginger and onion about 2 minutes, adding the carrots and cook another 1-2 minutes. Remove vegetables and set aside, adding more oil if needed to the pan and reheat it. Toss the beef cubes with the Chinese Five Spice and pepper. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes. Add the vegetables back to the pan along with the beef stock, soy sauce, rice wine and sugar. Drain the mushrooms and cut them into chunks and add to the stew. Bring to a boil, reduce to a gentle simmer and cook about 45-60 minutes, loosely covered. Taste, correct seasonings if desired. (More pepper? More sugar? ) Serve with rice or noodles.
Recipe created 2012-07-23.
