Braised beef is a dish I make for my family every winter. The beef needs to be stewed until tender, the potatoes melt in your mouth, and the best part is that generous spoonful of sauce—it's absolutely divine when poured over rice! I have a little secret to elevating the flavor of this dish: using fermented broad bean paste. My family often uses Congbanlv's reduced-sodium, original-brewed fermented broad bean paste, which is not only low in salt but also has a simple ingredient list. Beef stewed with it is very flavorful, with just the right amount of saltiness, and the broth isn't overly salty when used to soak rice. Besides braising meat, I also squeeze some on top as a dipping sauce for stir-fries—it's delicious and convenient!
Materials
Absolutely foolproof and incredibly delicious braised beef 🔥 with soft and tender potatoes and a rich, savory sauce. Here are the steps to make it.
Prepare ingredients
Place beef short ribs in a pot of cold water with scallions, ginger, and cooking wine. Blanch the ribs until they boil, then skim off any foam. Remove the ribs and rinse them thoroughly with warm water, then drain well (to avoid oil splattering when caramelizing sugar).
Add some oil to a pot, then add rock sugar and stir-fry over medium-low heat until completely melted and turned a sesame oil color.
Pour in the drained beef and stir-fry quickly until evenly coated with the caramelized sugar.
Add scallions, ginger, bay leaves, star anise, and light soy sauce.
Then squeeze in the Congbanlv reduced-sodium fermented broad bean paste. The bagged packaging is very convenient; you can squeeze out only what you need, which is cleaner and more hygienic.
Stir-fry evenly. You can already smell the rich aroma of the soy sauce. This is because this reduced-salt fermented soybean paste is a fully fermented, original-brewed sauce, which makes the dishes more flavorful. It reduces salt but doesn't lose its freshness and aroma!
Add boiling water until it is level with the ingredients, cover and simmer for 60 minutes (until the beef can be easily pierced with chopsticks with slight resistance).
While the stew is cooking, cut the carrots and potatoes into chunks (cut the carrots into smaller pieces so they cook together with the potatoes).
After the beef is cooked, uncover and add the potatoes and carrots, cover and continue to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Stir-fry over high heat until the sauce thickens (when the large bubbles in the pan turn into small, fine bubbles, and the sauce becomes slightly thickened). Leaving a little sauce to mix with rice is incredibly delicious!
The beef is rich and flavorful, tender and juicy, while the potatoes and carrots are soft and tender. The sauce is so delicious when mixed with rice!
Absolutely foolproof and incredibly delicious braised beef 🔥 Soft and tender potatoes, rich and flavorful sauce - tips
1. Blanch the beef in cold water, then rinse it thoroughly with warm or hot water. Do not use cold water, otherwise the meat will not tenderize easily and will have a poor texture. 2. Caramelize the sugar over medium-low heat. You can press it down with a spatula at the beginning to speed up the process. 3. Use hot or boiling water to stew the beef. If the water level drops, add boiling water. 4. Pay attention to the heat when making the sauce. You can adjust it to medium-low heat. After adding the reduced-salt fermented bean paste, stir-fry quickly and evenly. Do not let it dry-cook in the pot for too long, otherwise the sauce will burn and become bitter, affecting the flavor. 5. Use a household white enamel spoon.
