Spicy Winter Stew

Just where does the time go? It' far too long since I've been on here. In my defence I have to say I have not actually been doing much baking. Trouble is, I tend to end up eating the end product - which is not good news for my already overstretched waistline!

OK, so I admit I have been at the oven once or twice... but trying to perfect a rather plain biscuit, one that I won't immediately gobble... So far the end results have tasted fine, but not been overly photogenic.

So, back to the present. With all this cold weather we've been having I've been experimenting with spice. I love spicy food, but all too often that seems to equate with lift-the-roof-of-your-mouth-off hot. I do actually like to TASTE what I am eating. Thus I've been playing around with the likes of ginger, paprika and Turmeric, as well as my 'Adam's Kitchen Pepper' which some lucky people got last year as my seasoned greetings 'card'.

You will need:
A slice or two of belly of pork, or chicken portions, or whatever - or indeed no meat at all!
A goodly amount of fat or oil
2 tsp caraway seeds (optional if you REALLY don't like them, but you don't taste them individually)
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp turmeric (adds wonderful depth (and colour) to the flavour)
1 tsp Adam's Kitchen Pepper - mixed spice will just about do
2 tsp tomato puree
1 tsp sugar
6 cloves garlics, chopt
Pot vegetables: carrot, onion, celery, sweet potato, celeriac, etc etc

Melt the fat in a frying pan and lightly brown the meat.
Lift meat out and place into a casserole.
Add all the ingredients except the pot veg into the frying pan. Stir well and fry - now you see why you need a goodly amount of fat?!
Chop the veg into whatever-sized bits you like, add to the pan and get well mixed with the spices. Add some boiling water to make a sort of gravy and tip over the meat. Add more water to clean out whatever's left and add to the casserole too.
Slow bake for as long as you can spare - I think mine was in at about 150C for about 4 hours.
Keep an eye on the cooking sludge and top the liquid up every so-often, adding some salt after the first couple of hours.

I served mine with some spicy potato cakes: peeled, grated potato, boiled for a minute or two, drained and seasoned with salt, pepper, herbs, flour, turmeric and ginger. Then fried.



My photos are never up to much I'm afraid - I can't be doing with the pretentious, over-primped food photo. MAKE THE DISH... and see what it looks like or, FAR more importantly, what it tastes like. After all, most stews look pretty unappetising straight out the oven...