Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bo Kho)

If you haven't figured it out yet, a lot of the recipes in this blog are not original. I just post them to keep my own copy, in case the websites where I found them go down. This one was originally called "Spicy Vietnamese Beef Stew", although I personally found it to be very mild, which is not surprising because there were no spicy ingredient. Fine by me, it's still delicious! Original Bo Kho has noodles in it. To keep with the paleo theme, my favorite substitute is enoki mushrooms.

Sources: nom nom paleo (stew) +  my organic life ("noodles")
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 4-5 hours
Yields: 6-8 portions

Ingredients:

• 2½ lbs. beef stew meat, cubed
• 1 large stalk lemongrass, cut into 3-inch lengths, and bruised with a heavy object
• 3 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1½ tsp. Madras curry powder
• 2½ tbsp. minced ginger
• 2 tbsp. applesauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tbsp. ghee
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups canned diced tomatoes, pressed by hand trough a tomato sieve
• 2 whole star anise
• 3 cups water
• 1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces

"noodles" - optional:

• 4 packs of Enoki mushrooms, remove the roots, wash, drain and somewhat separate
• 1 tbsp. ghee
• Sesame oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, prepare a marinade from the fish sauce, curry powder, ginger, applesauce, lemongrass and bay leaf.
2. Marinade the beef for 30 minutes or more.
3. In a dutch oven or a skillet, melt the ghee and brown the beef. Set aside and keep the lemongrass and bay leaf.
4. If you're using a dutch oven, preheat oven to 300°F. Otherwise you can use a slow cooker.
5. Fry the onions in the skillet/dutch oven until soft.
6. Add the tomatoes, bring to boil, then simmer for about 12 min until a paste is formed.
7. Add some salt to taste, then also the browned beef, lemongrass, bay leaf, and star anise.
8. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the water and carrots, and bring to boil.
9. If you're using a dutch oven, then transfer it to the over and bake for 2½ hours. If using a slow cooker then transfer to it and cook on high for 3-4 hours or until meat is really tender.
10. For noodles: when stew is almost ready, heat up the ghee in a skillet and add the mushrooms. There will be liquid coming out.
11. Add salt and black pepper to taste, and sesame oil, then turn the heat up to high and stir well for about 2 minutes, until the liquid thickens.
12. Put "noodles" in the serving bowls, then pour the stew over them and serve.