Moroccan beef stew is the sort of dish that sounds foreign at first, but once you get a taste or even a whiff of it, the taste and scent that it emanates seems all-too familiar; nostalgic, even.
It years you back to a time when you have been to a restaurant that serves Middle Eastern dishes. The sort that is so filled with sauces, flavours and all sorts of spices. That the overwhelming sensation can overpower you. Rendering you all too senseless to even appreciate the fullness of the flavours that these dishes have.
Moroccan beef stew is no stranger to this. It is vibrant, rich and all too appetizing as a meal to even be overlooked. For some that have a lot of spices and herbs lying around and about in their respective homes or apartments.
Many have incorporated their own versions of Moroccan beef stew. Throwing in ingredients like Kalamata olives, cumin, and garbanzo beans, to name a few.
With all of that said, let us not linger much more. And proceed to discussing how you can cook your very own Moroccan Beef Stew!
Slow Cooker Moroccan Beef Stew Recipe – Time to Dust Off Your Slow Cooker!
With a slow cooker in hand. You can assure yourself that the dish you are going to be cooking for hours is definitely going to make your immediate area feel fragrant and lovely. With the aroma wafting from the kitchen and towards your own bedroom.
The slow method of cooking in this regard will ensure that the spices, oils and the meat itself will become filled with flavour. The meat rendering itself to become tender and soft to the taste.
It is advised that you prepare these ingredients beforehand for these are going to be a lot. Moroccan Beef Stew, as with anything Moroccan in origin in terms of cuisines contain a lot of herbs and spices.
Another concern would be to ensure that the slow cooker you are going to use to roast your Moroccan Beef Stew is clean and tidy. With a clean cloth or moist rag, wipe the inner surfaces of t he slow cooker as well as the corners. It is also advisable that you raise the ceramic bowl and clean up underneath it, as sauces or oils from previous dishes that you have slow cooked might have seeped into the nooks and crannies of your slow cooker.
It is also encouraged that you wash the ceramic bowl and the lid with warm water and dishwashing liquid, thoroughly scrubbing it to remove any excess oil and sauce. If neglected, some of these sauces and oils might interfere and ruin the taste of your Moroccan Beef Stew.
Check my other post on cooking meat in a slow cooker.
Ingredients Needed
Now, time to enumerate the ingredients that you are going to need to be able to cook your Moroccan Beef Stew via the slow cooker:
- Chuck roasts – three pounds of freshly-bought or frozen
- Olive oil – four teaspoons. Make sure that they are infused with garlic and are divided separately.
- Water – one cup
- Carrots – medium sized, two pieces. Peel them and slice them into one-half inch chunks.
- Sweet potatoes – one pound. Make sure to chop them up into one-inch cubes with the skin still on)
- Canned tomatoes – A can should be about fourteen and a half ounces. Dice them but do not drain out the juices
- Parsnip – one medium sized. Peel them and chop them up into half an inch-thick chunks
- Leek leaves – one cup, sliced finely
- Cumin – one teaspoon, grounded
- Turmeric – one teaspoon, grounded
- Cinnamon – one teaspoon, grounded
- Brown sugar – two tablespoons that are lightly packed
- Black pepper – half a teaspoon and freshly grounded
- Salt – one teaspoon
- Ginger – one teaspoon, grounded
Interested in noodle soup with beef recipe? Read my post about it.
Instructions on what to do to cook your Slow Cooker Moroccan Beef Stew:
Step 1
Get the chuck roasts, place them up in a chopping board and get rid of any visible fat that you can find and chop them up into one-inch cubes. Make sure than they are separated and apart from each other; no fibres attached from one piece to another.
Place a large skillet over a stove and light it up to medium to high heat, then pour two teaspoons of oil into the skillet. Place half of the chuck roasts ensuring that they do not clump together. Let them fry without tossing. Once they brown and darken only should you turn them over. Do the same to the other side. Each side should take about three to four minutes.
Take the chuck roasts away from the skillet and put them away. Pour half a cup of water onto the skillet and with a spatula, scoop up the bits that have stuck onto the skillet and pour this onto the slow cooker.
Place the skillet back onto the stove and pour in two more teaspoons of oil and heat. Do the same that you did on the next batch of uncooked chuck roasts, same method of cooking on each side, pouring water onto the skillet and scraping the brown off and pouring it over the slow cooker.
Step 2
Throw in the slow cooker the parsnip, carrots, cumin, cinnamon, leek leaves, salt, pepper, ginger, turmeric, tomatoes and brown sugar and scatter them evenly on top of the chuck roasts in one layer.
Step 3
Place the sweet potatoes on top. Power up the slow cooker to high and place the lid. The time that it would take to cook would vary upon your slow cooker, but a good indicator would be to check if when you poke the sweet potatoes, they are tender when prodded. This would take around six to eight hours
Serve your Slow Cooker Moroccan Beef Stew with rice or cooked quinoa.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, having Moroccan beef stew as supper for a small gathering of friends or even a dish that you would want to prepare for a family gathering is going to be a wonderful experience, for the rich flavour and aroma will provide an appetizing atmosphere that everyone can appreciate.
