© J Sainsbury plc 2020
Slow cooker beef stew with dumplings
If you have a slow cooker, this beef stew with dumplings recipe pretty much but makes itself: a little prep and you’ll have a hearty, warming dinner ready at the end of the day. This can also be cooked in the oven in a covered casserole for about 1½-2 hours at 160°C, adding the dumplings and cooking for a further 20 minutes.
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Ready in 7 hours 15 minutes
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Cooking time up to 7 hours in a slow cooker or 3 hours in the oven
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Prep time 15 minutes
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Serves 4
Ingredients
The main stew
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 800g diced beef - brisket is a good choice
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 3 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 200g button mushrooms (halved if large)
- 2 tbsp wholemeal plain flour
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 500ml beef or chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of thyme or rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
For the dumplings
- 125g self-raising wholemeal flour
- Splash of skimmed milk
- 60g vegetable suet
- 2 sprigs of thyme or rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
To serve - optional
- 3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
Method
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1
Season the flour with a good pinch of salt and pepper, then toss the beef in the seasoned flour to coat
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2
Cook the beef in batches in 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan over high heat, turning occasionally, for 5-10 minutes or until brown all over. Transfer to a slow cooker
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3
Cook the vegetables, garlic and mushrooms in the remaining oil in the pan over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until vegetables begin to brown. Stir in the herbs, tomato purée and chopped tomato and cook for a couple of minutes. Add to the beef in the slow cooker
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4
Pour in the stock and cook for 4 hours on high (or 6 hours on low), until the meat is very tender
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5
To make the dumplings, combine all the flour, suet and herbs in a bowl and add enough milk to just bring it together. Season with salt and pepper. Roll into 6-8 small balls
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6
Stir the stew, remove the bay leaves and season to taste
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7
Evenly top the surface of the stew with the dumplings. Cover and cook for an additional hour with the lid on
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8
Serve topped with the combined parsley and garlic if using.
