This is a typical Halloween dish—German stew. The cool nights of the harvest festival pair beautifully with its heavy cuisine. A quartered beet egg should be placed on top of each bowl of stew. To give the eggs a sweet flavor and a deep purple color, beet eggs are hard-cooked eggs that have been prepared in a vinegar and beet juice mixture.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 3 quarts |
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 ½ pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pepper
- 2 tablespoons caraway seed
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 7 cups beef broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic and onion, and cook until softened and translucent; remove from pan. Pour 2 tablespoons canola oil into Dutch oven. While this heats, mix the beef with salt and pepper. Sear the beef in batches until browned all over, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in caraway seeds and flour, cook until flour is incorporated and the caraway seed is fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in beef broth; add bay leaves, sugar, nutmeg, and onion mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the meat is tender, about 2 hours.
- Stir in the potatoes and carrots; continue cooking until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir together the cornstarch and water; stir into the stew along with the parsley. Simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 380 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 23 g |
| Cholesterol | 63 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 727 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 22 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This stew is hearty and easy, a meal the whole family even fussy kids will eat, the caraway seeds gives a nice different flavor that is comforting.
I made this and did not add the sugar, it was very good! This dish tastes exactly like the food I grew up eating in a prodominantly German family. Great dish!
For wheat/corn allergy: I used potato starch as my thickener. Works perfectly. I also added some tamari sauce to deepen the flavor of the broth. (Mushroom umami might also work for the soy allergic.)
Beautiful aroma 🙂 what a great stew for the autumn weather, such an earthy rich taste! Very much enjoyed it. Made a few tweaks to the recipe to incorporate some pumpkin chunks also, was fantastic!
Delicious!!
I halved the recipe for my husband and me and we loved it. It reminds me of my Austrian grandmother’s cooking. This will go into my permanent files. Thanks!
SO delish!!!! Substituted the parsley for cilantro. Otherwise followed the recipe exactly & YUM! Our 4 year old even ate it up! Thanks for sharing!
I wasn’t sure how the ingredients would work together, but this turned out to be delicious squared. Don’t skimp or substitute on the spices that are called for, as they make all the difference. I added in a sweet potato because I didn’t have enough regular potato and I only used as much broth as was necessary to cover the ingredients.
Simple and delicious stew recipe. At first I wasn’t sure about all the caraway but it takes on a mellower flavor after simmering all day. I cooked my stew in the crockpot. I browned the beef and cooked the onions as per the recipe and dumped it into the crock. I ommited 2 cups of the broth and cooked it on high the first two hours then kicked it to low and let it go all day and it came out fabulous. Lovely autumn dinner!
Easy and absolute comfort! Consider not adding salt to the meat browning step if you use a packaged broth instead of homemade. Adjust the salt to taste at the end.