slow cooker beef curry

Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker Beef Curry

Drescription

Long, slow cooking periods mellow flavors while bold spices, in bold amounts, hold their own over time. That's just what happens here with big flavors from Thai curry paste and fish sauce finished with fresh touches of cilantro and lime juice that, together, draw inspiration from Thai curry. Serve over a bed of brown rice or brown rice noodles to catch all the sauce.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as canola or avocado
2 pounds beef stew meat
½ cup unsalted beef stock
¼ cup thai red curry paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 (10-oz.) yellow onion, sliced (about 2½ cups)
¾ cup well-shaken canned full-fat coconut milk
8 ounces haricots verts (french green beans), halved crosswise
½ cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
9 ounces fresh spinach (about 9 cups)
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
cilantro sprigs (optional)

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add beef, and cook in 2 batches, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 6 minutes. Place browned beef in a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add stock to skillet, stirring and scraping to loosen browned bits from bottom of skillet; transfer mixture to slow cooker. Add curry paste, fish sauce, sugar and onion; stir to loosely combine. Cover, and cook on low until beef is very tender, about 8 hours.
Add coconut milk and haricots verts to slow cooker. Increase heat to high; cook until haricots verts are tender, about 12 minutes. Turn off heat; add cilantro leaves, spinach and lime juice. Stir gently until spinach starts to wilt. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Whole-Grain Buttermilk Pancakes

This healthy whole-grain buttermilk pancake recipe uses 100% whole-wheat flour, heart-healthy canola oil and just a tablespoon of sugar. Compared to most store-bought mixes or a classic recipe, this recipe saves about 30 calories, 3 grams saturated fat and 4 grams total sugar per serving, plus you'll dish up 2 extra grams of fiber. If you want to experiment with different types of whole grains, replace up to 1/2 cup of the whole-wheat flour with cornmeal, oats and/or buckwheat flour. Or add extra fiber and omega-3s by adding up to 3 tablespoons of ground flaxseed or chia seeds.