The long and cold winter days are coming up; what warms you up better than a bowl of delicious beef stew with tomatoes? How about TWO bowls of this amazing stew!?

I created this recipe a couple of years ago and have only made it a few times for the people who are the closest to me. Today, I’m ready to share it with you after years of fine-tuning the ingredients and steps! This stew combines the mouthwatering fragrance of the fatty beef, the appetizing taste of tomatoes, as well as some mild heat from freshly cut gingers. This stew is so versatile that you could literally have it with anything from a bowl of rice, some noodles, or even a couple of slices of freshly toasted garlic bread. You could also substitute the beef into some silky tofu and make it completely vegan! Versatile, amirite?

INGREDIENTS (Meat & Veggie)

• 3 medium-sized Yukon potatoes
• 5 pieces of celery hearts
• 2 medium-sized carrots
• 2 large tomatoes (or 3 small tomatoes)
• 2.5 lbs of beef, I used fresh chuck ribs, but generally speaking, as long as your beef is nicely marbled with fat, your stew is going to taste like heaven) (The beef could also be substituted with silky tofu, with a shorter cooking time)
• 2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger
• ½ of a medium-sized white onion
• 2 chilli peppers (depends on personal preference)
• 3 tbsp of oil

INGREDIENTS (Secret Puree)

• 3 tbsp of light soy sauce (for flavour)
• 3 tbsp of dark soy sauce (for colour)
• 2 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp of pepper oil
• 2 tbsp of Chinese five-spice powder
• 4 tsp of salt
• 3 tsp of grounded black pepper
• Optional: 3 bay leaves, 3 pieces of star anise, 1 cinnamon stick