My mom always thickened her beef stew with corn starch or flour and I usually do too. But this stew from Sierra Leone is thickened with eggplant and okra. Wha?!? That’s right, secret vegetables for the win! All the way from Sierra Leone.
*Naptime tip: Add some precooked, leftover veg to the stew at the end to bulk it up and make the dish even heartier. Hooray for more vegetables!
Beef and Okra Stew
Recipe adapted from Cooking the West African Way
Serves 5-6
Ingredients:
1 pound cubed stew beef
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
3 1/2 cups beef stock
2 small eggplants, peeled and cubed
8 small okra pods
3 tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped (I use 3-4 canned whole tomatoes)
Method:
Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium high and brown the beef on all sides. Add the onion, salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the beef stock and eggplant, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook on low 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until beef is almost tender.
In the meantime, wash and chop the okra, discarding the top and bottom of each pod. Add the okra and tomatoes to the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes or until all the vegetables are thoroughly softened and beef is tender.
Remove all the pieces of beef and set aside.
Pour the sauce and vegetables into a blender (or use a stick blender in the pot) and pulse until smooth. Stir the meat back in with the sauce and adjust the seasonings as needed. Serve hot over rice.
Naptime Prep Cook 