Beef Stew in Berbere Sauce

Cookgirl's Note:

Exotic Ethiopian flavors! From Sunset Magazine March 2006. For a less spicy version, reduce the amount of cayenne from one tablespoon to one or two teaspoons. If you have any Ethiopian Tej honey wine on hand, use it in place of the dry red wine in this recipe. (Honey mead would work, too.) This makes the house smells heavenly!

• Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 large white onion, chopped coarsely
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon cayenne (read intro)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 2 1/2 lbs beef stew meat (such as chuck)
• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Pulse the onion in a mini-chopper or blender until almost pureed.
3. Melt butter in a heat proof Dutch oven and brown the stew meat, for about 10 minutes. Add the onion the last few minutes.
4. Add the fresh ginger, paprika, cayenne, cumin, fenugreek, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and allspice. Stir mixture until fragrant, approximately 1 more minute.
5. Add the tomatoes and wine. Cover, bring to a "medium" simmer and place in oven for approximately 2 hours. If stew looks like it may be drying out, add a little bit of water or broth, about 1/2 cup at a time. Stew is done when meat can be easily pierced with a fork.
6. Just before serving, season with salt and pepper.

Reviews

[*Parsley*]

Yes, my house DOES smell heavenly! I made this in the crockpot and it turned out wonderfully. I only used 2 tsp cayenne because that's all I had left. For those that shy away from recipes with a long list of "odd spices", you need to try this! The spices just marry perfectly and make this sauce so flavorful. It was not too spicy for my kids. The beef was super tender, too. Thanx for posting this. I'm making this one again and again!

[UmmBinat]

Yum!! This is good spicing with a drastic reduction of the cayenne pepper to taste, for us. The beef was tender and flavourful. I used sweet (unsalted) butter, sweet paprika, it was my first time using fenugreek seeds, I didn't like the bitter flavour, was I supposed to grind them?, freshly ground cardamom, extra canned crushed tomatoes, no wine for religious reasons, sea salt, plus the rest of the ingredients. I may make this again without fenugreek seeds & wine.