We love beef but we try to make it with less fat but full on flavour. This is why I like this recipe, because trimming off the fat and pre-boiling the beef removes a lot of the fat but still retains the beef flavour. I also add in a lot of mushrooms to make it healthier. This is by no means an authentic Korean beef stew recipe, it's just how we make it in our home.

My son loves this stew because it's quite sweet due to the pears and absolutely delicious with Jasmine rice.

Step 1: Ingredients

1 kilo beef chuck or short ribs ( I prefer the beef chuck because it's cheaper and has lots of flavor.)
2 tomatoes
2 pears
2 onions
1 carrot
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon minced ginger
200 grams cup mushrooms
3 spring onions
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon canola oil
Water
Salt and pepper to taste

Step 2: Preparing and Boiling the Beef

Slice the beef into 1 inch cubes trimming off the fat then boil it in a pot of water for 15 minutes. After this time has elapsed, you can see in the 3rd photo the foam and fat floating on top. Remove the beef and submerge in clean water to remove the blood and fat still adhering on it then drain. Discard the used boiled water.

Chop two tomatoes, slice half a carrot and halve an onion. Put these in a pot of boiling water with the beef. I didn't measure how much water to put in the pot, just make sure the level covers the meat. Simmer with the lid on at low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the meat is fork tender. After which, you can remove the meat and save a cup of broth. (7th photo)

Step 3: Cooking the Stew

Before we cook the meat again, grate or blend 2 peeled pears. For the vegetables, mince 2 garlic cloves, slice the onion, half a carrot and the mushrooms.

Saute in a pot the garlic, ginger and onions with 1 tablespoon canola oil. When the onions are translucent, add in the meat and saute for 5 minutes in moderate heat. Put in the broth, grated or blended pears, 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil and 4 tablespoons of soy sauce. Add in some salt and black pepper to taste. When it starts boiling, add in the mushrooms and cover for 15 minutes in low heat to cook the vegetables and let the flavors be absorbed by the meat.

In the meantime, prepare the garnish by toasting the sesame seeds on a pan and chopping up the spring onions.

When the stew is done, sprinkle the sesame seeds and spring onions.

Enjoy!