I am not much of an alcoholic drink drinker. But one of the things I enjoy doing is cooking with some alchohol. During the coking process, much of the alcohol burns off and the food remains with just the taste and depth of that particular drink. I have seen time and time again people making their beef stews with beer and I was slightly taken aback as to why it was so popular. This was until I tried it myself. And all I can say is, the beer+beef combination is a match made in heaven. This author agrees too! I am always for trying out new things and pushing myself beyond what I am used to. And this really paid off. This beer beef stew is the perfect comfort food. I really cannot put in words how good this is. You just have to try it for your self.
NOTE: If you do not want to use beer in your beef stew you can follow this recipe as is but just skip the beer. It will be just as good. But I recommend that you try something new.
My beer beef stew ingredients
1 kg of beef
1 can of beer
1 red onion, chopped
1 large carrot. finely diced
2 ripe tomatoes, grated
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 beef cubes
1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of coriander powder
1 tablespoon of black/white pepper
Salt to taste
Method
Cut your raw beef up and put it to boil. After it is just ready, add some more water and 3/4 of the can of beer and allow this to boil until all the liquid in the sufuria is gone. I do not have any knowledge as to which beers are the best, so I went with the one that is most popular/ branded closely with the Kenyan identity- Tusker.
Remove from sufuria and set aside.
In the same sufuria, add your onions and garlic. Fry them until they are soft. Be careful not to burn the garlic. To this add your tomatoes and tomato paste and mix it all up. Add 1/4 cup of hot water and mix. Let it simmer for about 4 minutes then add the boiled meat.
Add the spices and salt according to your taste and mix everything together. Then add the carrots and the remaining 1/4 can of beer and mix. Adding the remaining beer at this point allows the taste of the drink to remain prominent even with all the alcohol burnt off.
If you would like a bit more soup, you can add some hot water 1/4 cup at a time until you get the the level you want without making the soup unappealingly watery.
Cover with a lid and allow this to simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Garnish with some fresh coriander then serve your perfect spicy beer beef stew.
This was soooooo goood. I cannot emphasize that enough! Perfect taste of booziness, perfect spiciness, perfect tenderness. Besides beer, the other alcoholic drink you can use in your beef stew is red wine. Please do not get carried away though and add all kinds of drinks and spirits to your stew.
The other dish which I used an alcoholic drink is this one, whose sauce is laced with white wine.
Don’t you just want to eat this with chapos straight from the heat?! Yum! Do Give this a try. This beer beef stew will take your breath way. I urge you to get off your cooking-comfort-zone and try new things & be more adventurous. There is more the culinary world has to offer beyond what you are used to 🙂
-KALUHI
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Hey there! My name is Kaluhi and I love food! Through my blog, I am happy to share with you my self-taught recipes, steeped in nostalgia and the happiest of memories. I hope each recipe you try out is as addictive as the previous one and is shared on a table full of love and hearty laughs!
have got to try!!!!!
question: doesn’t boiling the beef first make it bland?
Hey Rae. There are so many ways to have cook beef. Some people prefer to roast/sear it before stewing it. Majority of Kenyans, including myself, boil it first, which not only softens it but also shortens the time for making the stew. I personally never detect a reduction in its flavor. But listen, the good thing is that this recipe is not cast in stone. You can modify it to suit your preferences and tastes. And that is totally ok 🙂
Tried it and loved it. Thanks author for this…
Awesome!! I need to make this again soon too. glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Well will be waiting for this…good job
Thank you. This was so juicy and had so much soul. #musttry
Oh yes i did try and loved it though…umesahau watu wa spirits..hahaha kidding though. thanks
As I have said, do not get carried away and add every drink to the meat. Lol. There is a time and place for everything.
I came across your blog after you were featured by another food blogger and I can’t stop myself from visiting the page over and over.
I love your recipes.
So happy you like my blog!!!!! Might I ask, which food blogger is this? Just curious.. 🙂
Your blog was featured on Pendo La Mama sometime back.
oh! That is also one of my favorite blogs too. Thanks for that info 🙂
I second cooking with wine too, red wine goes well with red meats and white with seafood and shellfish. You should also try making beer bread. It’s actually more like a loaf cake because there’s no yeast….but you must add baking powder of course. The flavor profile also depends on the brand of beer you choose to use. There are tons of recipes online, served slightly warm with butter on the side, it’s an awesome teatime treat.
Sounds interesting… thank you for the tip. I would be perfect considering July in Nairobi is usually so cold. I will work on that….as soon as my oven gets fixed 🙁
I love how simple your recipes are. Totally gonna try this! Heck, I might try them all, one at a time :).
Hey Miranda,
Thank you so much! Guess I am doing my job right :). Let me know how you like the recipes as we go along. I would love to know
Just did mine with a stout…… Guinness! Damn heavenly! And yes I searched for this recipe. Read it a while back
Next time I must try this with Guinness! I have heard pretty great reviews about this! And I am so happy you enjoyed this too :))
Hi, want to try the stew. Never cooked with alcohol but your description of the taste made it sound irresistible. What quantity of garlic do you use?
Cooking with alcohol is the best use of such drinks in my opinion! You will love this. I cant remember the exact quantity, but for this much beef, use 5 cloves.
I want to make this today but for 3kgs of meat.How do I measure the ingredients?
Just increase every other ingredient to match your quantity of meat. Relax, its not that complicated. eg, you could increase your beer by 1 additional can. increase your tomatoes to the quantity you prefer etc
Am new here and can’t wait to try it at home before I make it for my guests. If it won’t taste the bear will do it for them…most of them are so spiritual!!!
xx