Slow-Cooked Spicy Beef, Tomato & Chorizo Stew

You will need a slow cooker for this recipe, but its one that I have been doing for a while for the family, its really cheap but fulfilling and always guaranteed to warm those cockles!!

• Ready In: 8 hrs 20 mins
• Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

• 1⁄4 kg lean ground beef (or any lean mince to suit your budget)
• 1⁄4 kg stewing beef (or any stewing cuts of meat to suit your budget)
• 4  chorizo sausages, chopped into cm slices
• 1 (28 ounce) can chopped tomatoes, open and pour into a bowl (chopped plum tomatoes are nice, we will need the juice so don't throw it away)
• 6  carrots, chopped into inch size pieces
• 1⁄2 swede, chopped into inch size pieces
• 2  turnips, chopped into inch size pieces
• 6  large potatoes, chopped into inch size pieces
• 1⁄2 cup lentils (already soaked)
• 1⁄2 cup pearl barley (already soaked)
• 1  cup chickpeas (already soaked)
• 3  pints water, to cover the ingredients in the pot but leave at least 1 inch from the top of the pot
• 2  tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2  tablespoons  gravy, granules
• 1  pinch pepper (to season)

Directions

1. Make sure you prepare this in the morning and leave it bubbling away for at least 8 hours (make sure you don't leave it unattended and follow the guidelines of your slow-cooker). You can do this even if you don't have a slow-cooker but use a fairly big deep-bottomed saucepan or casserole pot and leave on a low heat setting for at least 3 hours.
2. 1. Prepare all veggies and chop into about inch size pieces or bigger if you like (I prefer big chunks).
3. 2. Prepare the tomatoes as above.
4. 3. Chop the stewing beef into inch size pieces, you don't really want them much bigger as they will go chewy and not soft.
5. 4. Chop the chorizo sausages as above into cm size slices.
6. 5. place all ingredients (except the gravy granules and worcester sauce) into your slow cooker along with the water or vegetable stock and turn on as per guidelines. Leave until it comes to the boil and when it starts to simmer add the gravy granules and worcester sauce. Leave bubbling away for approx 8 hours (3 hours if not using a slow cooker) and then serve. be careful as can be very hot!