Smoky beef & black bean stew with cornbread dumplings
Use a slow cooker to make this beef and bean stew – the cornbread dumplings make it an extra comforting dinner. Add in extra chipotle paste if you're a fan of spice.
Ingredients · Servings 4
- 500g braising beef diced
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp chipotle paste
- 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 2 peppers roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- pinch of sugar
- 500ml beef stock
- 2 x 400g cans black beans drained and rinsed
- handful of coriander chopped, to serve
- 75g instant/quick cook cornmeal (polenta)
- 75g self-raising flour
- ½ tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 egg
- 175ml buttermilk
- 50g butter melted
Method · 6 h
- Pat the beef dry and toss in the flour and plenty of seasoning until well coated. Add to the bowl of your slow cooker, or a casserole dish along with the chipotle paste, paprika, red onion, peppers, garlic, tomato purée, sugar and beef stock. If cooking in the slow cooker, cover and cook on high for 5 hrs, or until the beef is tender. If making in the oven, cover and cook at 170C/150C fan/gas 3 for 2 hrs, topping up with extra stock or water, if needed.
- To make the dumplings, mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, bicarb and ½ tsp salt in a bowl. In a jug whisk together the egg, buttermilk and melted butter until combined. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.
- Stir the black beans into the stew along with a large pinch of salt. Spoon the dumpling mixture on top of the stew in 5-6 large dollops (they’ll spread, but don’t worry). Return to the oven uncovered or recover the slow cooker and cook for 30 mins, until the dumplings have puffed up.
- Divide the stew between four bowls and sprinkle over some coriander to serve.
- 500g braising beefdiced
- 1 red onionfinely chopped
- 2 peppersroughly chopped
- 2 garlic clovescrushed
- 2 x 400g cans black beansdrained and rinsed
For the dumplings
- 50g buttermelted
- kcal642
- fat24g
- saturates11g
- carbs55g
- sugars13g
- fibre14g
- protein44g
- salt2.06g
