I’m love my slow-cooker! I put it on in the morning, go study for my exam, and by dinnertime it’s perfect and so delicious. I have a hunk of beef (again, parents) brought to me from the land of the snow, and I was really craving something hearty, warm, and spicy. Oh how I love spicy food, though I certainly regret it a couple days later…

Please adjust the spiciness level to your tastes! I’ve separated the recipe into the stew itself, and the spices I used, for your ease of convenience. Feel free to play around with the spices too – I LOVE playing with spices. The ones in this particular dish are very Asian-inspired. The broth ends up being very nice and light and clear, but also very flavourful. I’ve excluded the spices from the nutrition, since the majority of them you don’t ingest, and the ones you do are mostly fibre anyway. The stew is perfect for the chilly weather we’ve been getting here, and so satisfying (not to mention, easy)! The vegetables are flexible, so add anything you want – I just used what I had handy.

About 8 net carbs per serving, depending on the soy sauce you use – make sure you pick a lower-carb variety! It’s a little high in the net carb count, but it is a main dish and basically all the carbs come from veggies, which are good for you anyway and you should eat them. :) I make sure to include the nutrition for the raw ingredients, since nothing is lost when you cook in a slow cooker. It’s so easy to customize too! Just throw in whatever veggies you have on hand.

Ingredients

(makes 4 servings)

Stew:

1 lb mostly lean beef, cut into large cubes (I used about 500 g)

1 medium carrot, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 cups kale, chopped

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp soy sauce

Herbs and spices (below)

Salt and pepper to taste

Herbs & Spices:

2 cloves garlic

5 thin-ish slices ginger root

1 tsp ground cumin (optional)

1 nutmeg (optional)

White pepper to taste (optional)

3 dried red chili peppers, chopped if you’re a masochist – more if you just LOVE spicy, or omit if you can’t handle it.

1 sprig thyme (optional)

Chop all necessary ingredients. Throw everything into slow-cooker. Fill with water to the top of the cooker, and stir ingredients so it’s evenly distributed. Cook on high for about 4 hours, then turn down to low for another 4-ish hours (until you’re hungry!) it’s not an exact science. Serve when beef is tender.

Nutrition

(Edit: re-divided into three servings, because after portioning that’s how much I was satisfied with)