ONE POT KOREAN BEEF STEW

After doing a little research I was able to confirm that although not necessarily Korean in origin, this recipe has many of the components of traditional Korean cooking. The use of Beef was not widely used in Korea until the latter part of the 20th century but the sesame oil, garlic and spring onions (green onions) are staples in their cuisine. Soups and stews are a common theme and most commonly served with rice.

Now that you've had a mini history lesson let's get on to cooking shall we?

I found this recipe a while back and have been making my own tweaks and twists to make it the best it can be.

I like to shop my favorite big-box wholesaler (the one based in the Pacific Northwest that has happy, well cared for employees, not the other loathsome one) for my beef. I get two nice beef rump roasts for a decent price and freeze one for later (they make a MEAN beef jerky in my dehydrator) and use the other for this stew.

Ingredients for One-Pot:

2 lbs Beef Roast or Stew Meat

16oz Carrots or 1 bag 16oz baby carrots

8 Green Onions

4 Cloves Garlic

1 can V8 or Tomato Juice (about 1/2 cup)

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

3 Tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil (can sub vegetable oil but I don't recommend it)

1/4 teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper (a few good twists on a grinder will do)

Thickener: (for last 1/2 hour)

2 teaspoons Cornstarch

4 teaspoons Cold Water

Optional:

Serve with Rice or Rice Noodles

Step 1: Beef

Spray Crock-Pot with cooking spray or wipe the inside bowl with olive oil.

Take your rump roast or stew meat and remove as much visible fat as possible and discard. Cut into 1/2" size chunks and dump in your greased pot.

It is easiest to slice a roast into 1/2" slices then into strips then use kitchen scissors to snip into short cubes.

Step 2: Carrots

Peel and cut the ends off of your carrots and chop into bite size pieces. Pile on top of meat. If using baby carrots you can just dump the bag in or cut them in half. Your choice on the size of carrot you want in each bite.

Fun fact: baby carrots are just regular carrots filed down and rinsed in a solution of lovely chemicals that you can't pronounce to keep them 'fresh'. Save yourself some money and the nasty chemicals and buy some regular carrots for half the price and take the 3 minutes to peel and slice them yourself. Your body thanks you.

Step 3: Green Onions

Rinse and chop/cut the root ends and ragged tops off of the Green Onions.

I have two pairs of kitchen scissors. They are AWESOME for cutting things like green onions and I use them for multiple tasks daily. I almost kicked my boyfriend to the curb for taking my favorite pair of kitchen scissors to work with him one day. I just about had an aneurysm when I realized they were missing. That was a tense moment in our relationship. Don't mess with or remove my mother-lovin' kitchen scissors from the kitchen. If you want to stay on my good side, and keep all of your body parts...intact....but I digress. Back to cooking shall we?

Cut Green onions into 1/4"- 1/2" pieces over meat and carrots in pot.

Step 4: Garlic and Fresh Ground Pepper

Peel garlic and crush in a press. Scrape pressed bits off of the front of the press and drop crushed pieces left in the press into the crock pot as-is.

There is NO SUCH THING as too much garlic. Do not try and argue this with me. You will lose.

Using a pepper grinder, give a few good twists over the meat/vegetable/garlic mix.

Step 5: Marinade and Sauce

In a small bowl whisk Tomato Juice, Soy Sauce, Sugar and Sesame Oil.

I like to use one of the mini-frothers I got at a well-known Swedish retailer for the awesome price of under $3. I did drive over 200 miles to shop at said retailer but finding frothers for under $3 was worth the drive, No?

I have 4 of these fantabulous frothers I keep for various whisking duties (at that price I have each one for different duties!) at the ready. Using this handy-dandy tool ensures the oil and sugar are extremely well blended.

Pour the marinade over the meat/vegetable/garlic/pepper mix and stir until everything is well coated and smelling absolutely freaking amazing!

NOW is the time on Sprockets when we dance! I mean COOK!

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours and 30 minutes. Set a timer to notify you when it is 30 minutes from done...

Step 6: Thickener

30 minutes before the stew is done, place the corn starch and water in a small bowl or cup and blend with a whisk (again, I used my mini-frother) and mix thoroughly so it has no lumps.

Alanis Morissette break: (my lumps, my lumps, my lovely lady lumps, you don't want no drama) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRmYfVCH2UA

Pour the thickener into the stew, stir and let cook for the last 30 minutes.

Step 7: ....and Voilà

Serve over Rice or Rice Noodles.

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