Melt in the mouth Chinese Style Braised Beef with Soy and Ginger is a beef stew with a spicy twist! Full of flavourful & delicious!
This recipe for Chinese Style Braised Beef with Soy and Ginger is perfect if you're a bit tired of traditional beef stew and fancy something a bit different.
Think Asian style beef flavoured with salty soy sauce and lots of fresh ginger and fair amount of garlic cooked low and slow until melt in the mouth tender. Are you with me?
This very simple recipe comes from one of my favourite recipe books of all times - River Cottage Everyday by Hugh Fearnley - Whittingstall.
Ingredients
Shin of beef is quite an underrated cut of meat which requires slow and low cooking in order to taste its best.
The recipe called for about 1.5 kg shin of beef on or off the bone. I had only 1 kg of meat off the bone, however, I've decided to keep the proportions of all the other ingredients the same as if I was cooking with 1.5 kg of meat and I think the flavours were spot on.
Garlic
Fresh Ginger
Redcurrant Jelly
Soy Sauce
Apple Juice
Cider Vinegar
Chillies
Chinese Beef with Soy and Ginger - Tips
Stews generally take care of themselves but require long and slow cooking.
I would recommend making this stew day in advance to allow all the flavours to mingle and develop a bit more. Having said that, if you want to eat it on the same day you won't be disappointed either.
Original recipe calls for two fresh or dried chillies popped in whole for the duration of cooking. Single chilli was good enough for us and gave a nice, gentle kick but if you like your food pretty spicy than go for two.
Is browning the meat necessary?
The most time consuming part of the entire active prep in this recipe is browning your meat.
There are different schools of thought regarding that. Some say that browning your meat improves the flavour of the dish, some say it doesn't.
Personally, I haven't noticed any difference in flavour but maybe my palate isn't sophisticated enough. I do, however, like the appearance of browned meat more.
I'll leave it to you to decide but if you go the browning route, make sure you don't overcrowd the pan you brown your meat in. You want to sear the meat and not stew it.
Serving suggestions
This delicious Chinese style beef dish will go well with any type of Chinese noodles.
We, however, enjoyed it with lovely German "Spätzle or Spaetzle" (egg noodles) and a side of Cavolo Nero (Black Kale), although the side of my Braised Red Cabbage with all the lovely spices would work really well here too!
My kids would have preferred it with mashed potatoes so if you're catering for little ones you might want to go for it especially as mash goes well with almost anything even when you've got a mixture of different cuisines.
Storing & Freezing
If you make this stew in advance or have some leftovers you can store them in the fridge for 3-4 days. Make sure to reheat them until piping hot before serving.
As with most braised beef stews this one is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
When freezing make sure you leave a bit of room in your freezer proof container to allow for expansion as the stew freezes.
Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat until piping hot.
How to make Chinese Beef with Soy and Ginger
- Preheat the oven to 120C/250F/Gas Mark ½.
- Season meat pieces with some salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a heavy duty (cast iron if you've got one), oven safe casserole with a lid and brown the meat. Do it in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Turn the pieces so that they colour evenly. Set aside.
- With your meat set aside, add ginger and garlic to the empty pan with meat juices and cook them until they soften but not brown. Add jelly, soy sauce and meat back to the casserole and pour in enough apple juice so that it covers the meat.
- Add vinegar, whole chilli(s) and some freshly ground black pepper (you shouldn't need any more salt because of soy sauce).
- Cover and cook in preheated oven for 3 hours until the meat is completely tender.
- Discard the chillies and serve with noodles and some steamed greens.
Have you tried my Chinese Style Braised Beef?
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Chinese Style Braised Beef with Soy and Ginger
Ingredients
- 1 kg shin of beef cut into 2cm thick slices
- 6 large garlic cloves peeled thinly sliced
- One 10-12cm long piece or roughly 2 thumb sized nuggets of fresh ginger thinly sliced
- 3 Tbsp Redcurrant Jelly
- 150 ml light soy sauce
- 350-500 ml apple juice
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1-2 fresh or dried chillies left whole
- 1-2 Tbsp rapeseed/olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 120C/250F/Gas Mark ½.
- Season meat pieces with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a heavy duty, oven safe casserole with a lid and brown the. meat Do it in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Turn the pieces so that they colour evenly. Set aside.
- With your meat set aside, add ginger and garlic to the empty pan with meat juices and cook them until they soften but not brown. Add jelly, soy sauce and meat back to the casserole and pour in enough apple juice so that it covers the meat.
- Add vinegar, whole chilli(s) and freshly ground black pepper (you shouldn't need any more salt because of soy sauce).
- Cover and cook in preheated oven for 3 hours until the meat is completely tender.
- Discard the chillies and serve with noodles and some steamed greens.
Notes
- Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (based on 4 servings without sides) and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
- Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days. Make sure you reheat them until they're piping hot.
- Stew is freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
Please leave a comment & rating if you've made my recipe! Feel free to ask questions too, I reply to all!