Description
Made with the one and only ground beef, this flavourful stew is so much speedier to pull together than traditional stews. And any leftovers make a great base for a hearty soup: just add some stock, diced stewed tomatoes and some couscous or small pasta or rice.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
- 1 lb (500 g) Lean or Extra Lean Ground Beef
- ½ tsp EACH whole cumin, and caraway seeds
- ½ tsp EACH ground ginger, and cinnamon
- Generous pinch saffron threads, soaked in splash warm water
- ¼ cup split red lentils
- 1 tomato, chopped (or ½ cup diced canned tomato with juice)
- 1 cup chicken stock (approx.)
- 6 dried apricots, chopped
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Small handful fresh cilantro and/ Italian parsley, chopped
- Couscous, to serve
Instructions
- Heat oil in sauté pan over medium heat. Add ground beef and break up with wooden spoon, for 5 to 7 minutes, until no longer pink. Do not drain.
- Lightly crush the cumin and caraway seeds with a mortar and pestle or back of a heavy skillet. Add to beef along with the ground ginger, cinnamon and saffron. Cook for a couple minutes to heat spices.
- Stir in lentils and tomato; add the stock, and apricots. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer gently uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft and cooked. Top up with extra hot stock if the stew is getting too dry.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the cilantro and parsley. Serve with couscous and garnish each serving with a pinch of Harissa seasoning if you have it.