Cooking With Us - e45 - Coconut Milk Stew

Original stew, leftovers.

Hola Gang!

I'm gonna try to make this update short and sweet.

About a week or so ago I made a coconut milk stew from somewhere in the depths of my imagination.  

Leftovers: first stew on bottom, second on top

Theron had just bought a rice cooker and decided to make Jasmine rice to go with it, so I wound up cooking my stew for a couple hours in a pressure cooker while waiting for him to clean the new rice cooker and prep the rice.

I used the same (from what I remember!) recipe to make the following stew, but the two stews were completely different, predominately, I think, due to cook-time.

Theron liked the prior stew more, I think because it had  a more homogeneous, sweet flavor.

I preferred the second one for the exact opposite reasons: each distinct flavor seemed highlighted more.

Either way, it's a great stew, and good both ways - so cook it for one to two hours, and see which you prefer! - Remember, this timing is based on using a pressure cooker.

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Here's another gorgeous photo of our delicious, colorful stew:



 Photo essay, recipe, and transcript after the jump.

 First things first: grab your favorite family and get to introducing your meal!

 Also, definitely don't realize your husband is petting your dog's head, then yours.

As I mentioned earlier, Theron made Jasmine rice in his new rice cooker.

Make whatever kind of rice however you like to make it. ;)

 When your husband goes to get the onions you forgot, you can start making the stew.

Also, look at my cute hair clips ;)

I added my stew meat first. 

I did this because last time I was going to use the slow cooker, then changed to the pressure cooker.

Note: add ginger first, because even after two hours it's still crunchy!

I used light coconut milk and the stew definitely didn't suffer from this.

If you remember my Tom Kah Kai episode, you'll remember that regular coconut milk is

crazy-filled with tons of fat and calories.

In it goes!

And it actually comes out like a liquid, whereas full-coconut milk is much more like a solid initially.

 Mix this up and commence cooking.

Last time I used ginger that was maybe a couple inches in length.

Since then we found out ginger is really good for your skin, and just plain good, so I used this much.

In you go!

I cooked all this for an hour, and it was still crunchy.

The week prior I cooked it for two hours and yes, still crunchy.

Then I added two cubes of beef bouillon.

You can add one or two cups of water, that's really up to you.

Pour it in and keep on chopping!

We got these two gi-normous carrots from Union Oriental Market.

Slice them up and throw 'em in!

Do the same to your onions.

We used two medium sized onions.

Then, you get to your Thai chilies.

These are interesting because the heat comes on the back-end of your food,

and it doesn't really mess with the flavor.

Use only three to four of these tiny guys for a nice warmth that isn't going to kill you.

It doesn't look like much, but it really is enough to add another level of complexity to the dish.

One of my newer favorite spices - coriander powder.

You guys may know I like cumin already, but I think I like coriander powder even more.

Maybe.

The smell is amazing!

Add about this much in, or more if you want!

Also add some black pepper for taste.

I almost forgot I added these next three ingredients.

This is a dipping sauce, but I used to add sweetness to the stew.

It worked well and wasn't too sweet.

I also added a bit of fish sauce for the savory quality.

 

And a touch of soy sauce.

Finally, I added some of my chopped green onions.

Last time I cooked them all together, but this time I reserved some to put on top.

This is what the final product looked like this time after one hour of cooking on medium heat.

As a reminder, this is what it looked like (well, as a leftover)

last time after two hours of cooking on fairly high heat.

Ladle your stew over your rice.

And eat it up!

Because it's delicious!

And so pretty to look at, especially after one-hour cook time!

If you prefer a sweeter, more uniform flavor, cook this on higher heat for longer.

The onions will become caramelized and the stew meat will be softer than only one hour.

To each his own ;)

I had to end with a drone shot from the evening before.

Brigly is always a superstar!

I hope you guys try this out.

Really curious to know your opinions on the flavors, and cook time, and all of that!

Thanks for watching and reading, gang!

XOXO

-Teh Vallers!

Recipe:

1lb beef stew meat

1 can 'lite' coconut milk

1 inch + chopped ginger

2 medium white onions

2 large carrots, sliced

3-4 chopped Thai chilies

1 bunch of green onions, sliced.

 2 cubes beef bouillon in 1-2 cups of water.

Add these into a pressure cooker (though maybe add the ginger first!) 

and cook together for 1 - 2 hours.

Also add in coriander powder for flavor, as well black pepper, sweet sauce (I just happened to have a dipping sauce on hand), fish sauce and soy sauce.

Serve over rice. 

Transcript:

Hi!  Welcome to KumoCafe's cooking with us.

Today we're gonna make a coconut beef stew with carrots, and ginger, and onions...

Two.

Of Jasmine Rice.

And now the rinsing commences.

Three cups of water for two cups of rice?

Mhm.

You're gonna take the scooter?

Yeah.

Go get some onions...

Ok the first thing we need to start with is... a pound of stew meat, beef.

And we just put it in our pressure cooker.

We're using light coconut milk.

Watch it come out like a liquid, and not like a solid.

Yeah, pretty fantastic.

We'll be adding some beef bouillon and water to this in a little while.

We're gonna use quite a lot of ginger.

This guy I guess. And I'm gonna, grate him.

And ginger's good for you, and it's good for your skin, we found that out.

Into the pot.

Remember, that was just beef in there and it already turned the coconut milk dark.  And so the ginger's in there now.

So I have two cubes of beef bouillon I'm gonna heat up a little bit.

I mean these guys are gi-normous.

So we're gonna put the carrots in like this, the point of the stew is that it has big chunks and, they'll soften quickly, while they're in here.

Under pressure!

Alright, last time I used one and a half onions, but Theron likes them so I'm gonna use two.

Aren't these guys so pretty?

We're gonna use four little Thai chilies.

Choo-choo!

Four hot Thai chilies, going in.

It's in focus, OK.

Coriander powder!

Smell it, it smells so good.

Mmmm.

Now mix that up.

This is gonna have to cook for a lot longer, 'cause the onions just got put in.

So last time I added a smidgen of this, which is supposed to be a dipping sauce... but it just gave it a little sweetness.

Fish sauce.

A little bit of soy sauce.

Also I'm gonna put in some of my green onions, and the rest I'm gonna leave to put on top.

There's our stew, all ready.  The onions aren't overcooked this time.

Hehe.

It smells so good, I wish it tasted like it smelled... the rice, you know?

Maybe a bowl would've been better this time.

I think it tastes really good.  I like the sauce a lot.

OK good.

It's like a really good curry sauce.

Survey says?

It's really good. I think it's really good.

Ok good, make it.

Let me film you.

Hm, it is good.

It's good, I'm gonna eat it, it's good food. I like it.

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Cooking with Us.

And we'll see you next time.