Pressure Cooker Vietnamese Bo Kho (Beef Tomato Stew)
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 500gms cubed beef (I like oyster blade, any stewing beef with work)
  • ½ onion finely diced
  • 6 ripe tomatoes (I don't like using tinned food but if you are short on time, 1 tin of tomatoes will do)
  • 2 cups of coconut water (the clear water from the coconut not cream from a can. Plain filtered water is fine as a substitute if you cannot find coconut water, I like to use coconut water as it adds slight natural sweetness)
  • 3 large carrots
  • 1 white radish (daikon radish) - or an extra carrot if you do not like white radish
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste (buy on amazon)
  • 2 bay leaves (buy on iherb or amazon)
  • 1 star anise (buy on iherb or amazon)
  • 1 Chinese brown cardamom (do not use the green cardamom, they are not interchangeable) (buy on amazon)
  • ¼ cup oil of choice (I use olive or avocado, coconut oil is ok too if you prefer)
  • For the marinade:
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce (I use Red Boat brand which has no added nasties. Buy on Amazon or contact Red Boat for your local stockist)
  • 1 lemongrass stalk, smashed and cut into 4 pieces (save the green part for tea)
  • 1 inch of ginger minced
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 tsp whole black peppercorns (or ½ crushed black pepper if preferred (buy from iherb or amazon)
  • ¾ tsp natural sea salt (buy on iherb or amazon)
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric (buy on iherb or amazon)
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon (buy on iherb or amazon)
  • ½ tsp ground cumin (buy on iherb or amazon)
  • ½ tsp sweet paprika (buy from iherb or amazon)
  • ¼ tsp ground fennel seeds (buy on iherb or amazon)
Instructions
  1. preheat the oven to 200c if using fresh tomatoes (skip if using tinned)
  2. place the diced beef in a bowl and add all the marinade ingredients, mix well and set aside
  3. finely dice half the onion
  4. place the tomatoes on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until the skin starts to peel, then allow to cool
  5. peel the carrots and white radish and cut into 1 inch pieces (halve them if they are quite thick)
  6. set your cooker to the saute function for 20 minutes and add half of the oil, allow to heat up for 2 minutes
  7. in the meantime, peel and remove the seeds from the tomatoes, catch the juices and crush the flesh with your hands in a bowl and set aside
  8. add the beef mixture to the cooker and brown
  9. remove the beef, then add the rest of the oil
  10. add the the onions and cook until brown (this process should all take around 20 mins)
  11. return the beef to the cooker
  12. add the carrots, radish, coconut water (or water), crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves, star anise, Chinese brown cardamom to the pot (it should meet the maximum capacity for the pressure cooker function, don't overfill the cooker!)
  13. set the function to pressure cooker and timer to 30 minutes
  14. while it is cooking, thinly slice the spanish onion and wash, dry and finely slice your herbs
  15. once done, allow the pressure to release naturally or use the pressure release button if you're in a hurry!
  16. the beef should be super tender, if you used a tougher cut of beef increase the cooking time by 15-20 minutes
  17. serve with freshly sliced onion and herbs
  18. keeps for about 3 days in the fridge (can be frozen too :)
Recipe by Intuitive Food Design at https://intuitivefooddesign.com/food_recipe/pressure-cooker-vietnamese-bo-kho-beef-tomato-stew/