food comas

Winter doesn’t really exist in Singapore; it’s ridiculously hot and humid all year round.  That whole equator proximity thing… The seasons we do experience here can be characterized as wet and dry, although the lines are blurred because it can rain even during non-monsoon season.  Which it does… often.  However, when it is monsoon season, that just means that it will definitely rain and a whole crap load of it.

It’s been a particularly wet monsoon season, and the rainfall has yet to let up even as we head into February.  When the weather is dreary like this, I crave comfort food like Chicken Noodle Soup or Oxtail Stew.  I usually tend to cheat a bit with stew making by using packets Lipton® Onion Soup Mix to create the flavor base.  I was determined to try my hand at making a stew from scratch, and so I found a recipe online for a Lamb and Winter Vegetable Stew.

I have made this lamb stew every time the weather has gotten crappy, meaning I have made this stew a lot.  This stew is a great base recipe, and you can easily substitute ingredients if need be.  The original recipe calls for lamb, parsnips, onions, celery, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes.  I have made this with the original ingredient lineup, and also with beef instead of lamb, carrots instead of parsnips, and regular Yukon potatoes instead of sweet potatoes.  Parsnips and sweet potatoes are hard to find in Singapore and also very expensive, so I was quite relieved that my taste buds preferred the stew with carrots and Yukon potatoes.  I also left out the sour cream as I felt it didn’t need it; the stew is plenty rich and hearty without it.  Enjoy this with a light leafy salad and some crusty bread.

Lamb and Winter Vegetable Stew (adapted from AllRecipes.com)

Yields: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 T canola oil
• 1 lb lamb (or beef) stew meat, cubed
• 3 T all-purpose flour
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 C carrots (or parsnips), peeled and sliced
• 1 C celery, sliced
• 2 C beef broth
• 1 C dry red wine
• 1 T fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 C butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
• 1 C Yukon potatoes, peeled and chopped

Directions:

Heat the canola oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  In a medium sized bowl, dredge the lamb meat in flour before searing.  Add the lamb to the pot and brown the meat on all sides.

Remove the meat, reserving the remaining fat in the pot.  Add a little bit of red wine to deglaze, and then sauté the garlic, onions, carrots, and celery in the reserved fat.

When the vegetables are tender, return the lamb meat to the pot.  Add the beef broth, red wine, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil.  Let simmer for 30 minutes, and then add in the butternut squash and potatoes and cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

* pictured below — same recipe but with beef!