Beef, Rice with Red Bell Pepper Sauce

This is NOT going to be a recipe but it will be a summary of what I did to make this delicious dish.

Chad told me last week about something he had cooked and he said “It was delicious. You have to try it!” He told me basically what he used and how he did it. I said “Did you write down how much you used of anything?” He said “No . . I just used what I thought was right!” Hmm .. that didn’t help me much. Chad had seen a video on how to make what he made but there were no proportions so he just guessed at everything. He kept raving about how delicious it was so I had to try it.

Ingredients:

3 pounds of beef (chuck roast, good stew meat, round steak . . whatever)
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup olive oil (or less)
1/4 cup butter
1 can (14 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1-1/2 cups uncooked basmati rice
3 med/lg onions
2 red bell peppers
5 cloves garlic
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 to 1/2 c. yogurt

Seasonings:

Salt/black pepper
cinnamon
ginger
cumin
coriander
cardamom

I’ve mentioned that there’s a meat store here, J-H Cattle Co. Meat Store. I have never had meat like their meat and we love it. We bought a BIG package of stew meat and it looks like a good roast. I divided it into three pieces and had used one to make stew a while back and we both kept going on and on about how good that stew meat was so that’s what I used for this recipe.

Steps:

1. I cut the stew meat into cubes and didn’t even season it but added it to the pressure cooker with about 1/4 cup of oil. Pressure cooked it for 40 minutes.

2. This is a good time to put the basmati rice in a large bowl and add about 5 cups of hot tap water. Let it sit in that for at least an hour.

3. In a cast iron dutch oven with a lid (or any heavy pot with a lid), add a little olive oil and slowly caramelize the onion slices. Add more oil if needed.

4. Once the meat is done in the pressure cooker, remove the meat to the dutch oven using a slotted spoon. Do not add any of the liquid. There will be a little that cooks out of the meat and maybe a little liquid from the onions.

5. Add the can of tomatoes and as much of the listed spices as desired. I didn’t add red pepper til the end after tasting it and I had to add more salt than I thought I would. Add whatever spices you like and leave out the ones you don’t like but experiment a bit.

6. Line a baking tray (with sides) with parchment paper. Cut up the red bell peppers, each into about 6 pieces. Cut the onions into large chunks. I left the garlic cloves whole. Toss them with olive oil and roast til they are all soft. Let them cool and put them through a food processor or blender with just a little water.

7. Drain the rice and add it to the meat. Add in the 1/4 cup of butter. Add about 3 to 4 cups of the cooking liquid from the meat (pressure cooker). Place the lid on the dutch oven and cook til the rice is tender.

8. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

9. Pour the bell pepper puree into a small pan and heat over low heat. Mix 2 T. cornstarch with a bit of water. Whisk that into the puree and simmer gently til thickened to make a sauce. Add salt and pepper and the yogurt. NOTE: I tasted it and it was delicious as it was so I didn’t add the yogurt.

10. Dish up the meat mixture. Serve the sauce over the meat mixture.

I was really surprised at how tasty this was (and there are two quart jars of leftovers!). When I woke up from my nap, that’s the first thing I thought about so I heated up a bit more and had a snack.

Chad said he is going to make it again and use a whole chicken. I’m assuming he means cut into regular chicken pieces.