Braised Beef and Turnips

Well, another Asian country, another braised beef dish This one though, is composed plenty of components both for its soup/sauce and it's vegetables and meat! But once again, the selling point of this dish would really have to be the tenderness of the beef after cooking it for a long period of time. This definitely is a dish for the patient because it takes more than an hour just to cook this dish and a number of minutes to prepare! As they say, "good things come to those who wait" and good is an understatement. Here's how you can practice your patience virtue thing!!!

Ingredients:

650 g beef topside

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper, finely chopped

3 tbsp vegetable oil

3 cm knob ginger, thinly sliced

2 tsp finely chopped garlic

2 tsp finely chopped red chili

1 tbsp. soy bean paste

300 g turnips, cut into bite size wedges

1 tbsp Chinese wine

1 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp corn flour

Procedure:

1.) Cut beef into large chunks and season with salt and pepper. Heat half the oil into a wok and stir fry beef to seal completely and, remove and drain.

2.) Heat remaining oil into a clay cooking pot, add ginger, garlic, chili, and soy bean then stir-fry for 3 minutes, add the beef and cook for a further 2 mins. Add sufficient water to barely cover and bring to a boil, then place a tightly –fitting lid on the pot and lower the heat.

3.) Cook slowly for 90mins, then remove the lid add the sugar, wine, soy sauce, and oyster sauce and bring back to the boil. Add the turnips and simmer for 15mins.

4.) Mix the corn flour with a little cold water and stir into the pot to thicken the sauce. Serve immediately.