Jamaican beef stew recipe (Stew Beef)

This delicious one pot meal (Stew Beef) consists of succulent pieces of meat seasoned and slow cooked with an abundance of herbs and spices.

Course Main Entree

Cuisine Jamaican

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 30

Servings servings

Calories 347kcal

Author Charla

Ingredients

2 lb beef (900g)

For the beef seasoning

1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried coriander (cilantro)
1 teaspoon garlic powder/granules
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon pink salt
½ teaspoon red chilli flakes
1-2 tablespoon of homemade browning sauce
1 small onion chopped
3 scallion chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped

To cook the beef

2 tablespoon coconut oil
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme tied together
1 red or green bell sliced, can use half of both peppers
2 large carrots sliced or halved
1 large sweet potato peeled and chopped
3 pimento berries or ¼ teaspoon of ground allspice
2 ½ cups hot water
1 large tomato chopped
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 scotch bonnet

Instructions

If you have a spice/coffee grinder (highly recommended) add all of the ingredients for the beef seasoning to the grinder and mill them into a fine consistency. skip this step if it doesn't apply.
Place the washed beef in a large bowl then proceed to add all of the ingredients which form the beef seasoning to the bowl.
Add the browning sauce, chopped onions, garlic and scallion.
Use your hands or a spoon to work the seasoning into the beef to create a wet rub. The use of hands is so much better to really work those herbs and spices into the meat.
Set the bowl aside to marinate for several hours or overnight (recommended.
Melt the coconut oil on medium heat in a dutch pot or casserole dish. Then add the marinated beef to the pot (scrap off the onion, garlic, scallion etc.. don't worry if you can't scrap it all off ) and begin to sear.
Stir the beef so all the beef pieces are evenly browned. This will take a few minutes to complete.
As the beef begins to brown add the thyme and reduce the heat to low and put the lid on the pot.
Let the beef continue to brown and cook through for 10-15 minutes. During the given time you may notice an increase in liquid.
Remove the lid, assess the liquids if it is too much then increase the heat to high so that some (NOT ALL) of liquid absorbs and decreases. This is done to further seal in the flavour. Keep a watchful eye and stir at times if needed to avoid the beef charring.
Once some of the liquid has evaporated add the scrapped off onion mixture and saute until soft.
Then add the bell peppers, carrots, pimento (all spice) sweet potatoes and scotch bonnet - stir and combine.
Finally pour in 1 ½ cups of hot water into the bowl which marinated the meat to collect the excess marinade, then pour it into the dutchpot.
Add the chopped tomato and tomato puree to the dutchpot.
Then give another stir, add a bit more browning to the pot (about 1tbsp, this is something I now do for more depth in colour/flavour) before bringing to the boil then reduce the heat to low with the lid on.
Leave the stew to cook for up to an hour check frequently to ensure the meat liquid levels are constant. Add a ⅓ cup of water at a time if more is required.
Once cooked, do a taste test and adjust the seasoning i.e. pink salt/black pepper etc.. if required.
Serve accordingly.

Video

Notes

Feel free to freeze down any leftovers for up to 3 months.
To give this dish a larger quantity of meat I recommend using 1 ½ -2 lbs of beef which I have updated in the recipe card.
If you are using my homemade browning sauce, you can add more to the dutchpot as the meat is cooking because it isn't as bitter as the store brought kind.
If you are using the store bought browning then use roughly 3 tsp instead as too much will make the stew bitter.
To make this recipe in the crockpot follow the instructions to step 12 transferring everything to your crockpot then use 2 cups of hot water, set your crockpot on high, add the sweet potato 45 minutes before the finishing time and you may need to mix a slurry of 2 tablespoon of starch with 2 tablespoon of water to thicken the stew.
For the stovetop - you may want to add the softer ingredients like the sweet potatoes half way through the cooking time instead of when the meat is about to be simmered.
Use dried ingredients like dried thyme (1-2 tsp) and pimento if you can't obtain the whole version.
Always do a taste test prior to serving and adjust seasoning accordingly.
You may not need 2 ½ cups of water for the stovetop version but have this amount on standby start with 1 ½ cups and add ⅓ cup of water if needed
Always use hot water to replenish your pot to keep the temperature levels consistent.

Nutrition