Soaked in tomato sauce, flavored with all the necessary spices, this is the best – if not the only- way to make my kids eat veggies. Tomato sauce lends any veggies a desirable taste specially for little tummies. In fact, this is how we usually eat our veggies in the Middle East.
I wanted to introduce you to this way of veggie cooking a long time ago and when Maryam encouraged us at MENA to cook some of the wonderful Iraqi dishes, I’ve seen the chance I was waiting for.
This way of veggie cooking is almost how we eat our daily veggies in the Middle East, you can use it to cook okra, peas, green beans, zucchini, …. you name it.
Not only delicious and appealing but also very easy to make. You can skip the beef and make it frugal 🙂 or you can add some minced meat, but this way does not go well with chicken, so I do not recommend substituting beef with chicken.
I was wondering when I first landed in the US, how do people here eat the veggies?, and was so surprised that they do not just put it with tomato sauce.
I hope you’ll try this way specially if you are having trouble convincing your kids to eat their veggies. Can be served with white rice or pasta.
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Okra Beef Stew
Okra Beef stew
Ingredients
For cooking the beef
- 1 pound beef cut into 1 in cubes, Note1.
- 1 medium onion , quartered.
- 3 cardamom pods , crushed.
- 2 bay leaves
- Water to cover.
For the okra stew:
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium sized onion-chopped.
- 2 garlic cloves- minced.
- 2 jalapeño peppers , optional.
- 1 pound okra- fresh , cleaned or you can use frozen.
- 1 can (15oz) tomato sauce.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon ground coriander.
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.
Instructions
Cooking the beef:
- In a deep pot over medium high heat, add water, onion, bay leaves and cardamom pods then bring to a boil.
- Add beef cubes continue to boil for 5 minutes skimming the foam from the top. Then reduce heat to medium and keep cooking until beef is done. Note2
- Strain the beef keeping the beef and beef broth aside.
Cook the okra:
- In the same pot, heat oil. Saute onions and garlic until fragrant. Add the peppers if using.
- Add the tomato sauce, along with one cup of the beef broth we just made. Bring to a boil.
- Stir in the okra, salt and pepper . Adjust seasoning then cover and let it cook.
- Check for doneness and liquid level every 15 minutes.
- When it is almost done, after 35-40 minutes, add the cooked beef. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with white rice or pita bread. Lemon wedges on the side is highly desirable.
Can you explain more what you mean by 1 pound of beef stew boiled and cooked? Thanks!
Sommer, sorry for the confusion dear :). I meant fully cooked, like when you make beef broth. Traditional way is, you fill a pot with water, place a medium un-chopped onion in there along with some bay leaves, may be a couple of cardamom pods then when it is boiling, add the beef stew and continue to simmer until the beef is totally cooked. I hope this will help, let me know if you have any further wuestions.
This is such a great way to get the kids to eat their veggies! I would love to use this as a way to introduce okra to my son 🙂
What a lovely looking stew! I do love okra but it can be quite difficult to source in my corner of the world. You have presented this stew beautifully xx