Our best friends of some of 30+ years are wonderful cooks and often introduce us to interesting Indonesian foods and spices. Though he is as American as apple pie, she is American-born Indonesian and often cooks Indonesian foods. This dish came about from my exposure eating dinner with them and my reading of a number of Beef Soto recipes in cookbooks. I combined a mixture of spices traditional to the dish, and then added some veggies I thought would also be good in it. The result of this experiment was delightful, and quite simple since the grass-fed beef brisket I used in this was already cooked. This dish would also be good made with cooked lamb or venison. What a hearty, rib-sticking meal this was! You can prepare this from scratch with raw beef, but it will naturally take much longer than my version made with leftover meat, as the meat will have to be first browned in oil and then simmered in the broth/water for at least an hour to get tender before adding veggies to the pot. This dish could also be served as a dinner entree if you made it with less broth, thickened it with your favorite thickener or mashed veggie puree and served it over basmati rice (for the non-lowcarbers, of course). This dish is suitable for Atkins Induction and passes Paleo-Primal muster as well. 🙂

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INGREDIENTS:

2 T. palm oil (or coconut oil)

3 oz. onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 shallot, chopped fine

10 oz. lean, cooked beef (or lamb), cubed large

8 oz. summer squash, cut up large (calaba, zucchini, or yellow)

12 cherry tomatoes

1 tsp. dried red guajillo chiles (these are mild), seeded and chopped coarsely

½ tsp. ground cinnamon (or 1″ stick if you prefer)

1 tsp. Thai red curry paste

Dash of chipotle chile powder (or ½ canned chipotle chile, seeded and mashed)

1 thin slice ginger, minced

½ tsp. each galangal powder (optional)

½ tsp. turmeric

around 2 c. beef stock (or water) (enough to cover meat)

DIRECTIONS: In a large soup pot, heat the palm oil. Brown the onion until it begins to caramelize. Add shallot and continue to saute until shallot begins to “toast” a bit. Add garlic and cubed meat and saute a few minutes longer. Lower heat, add liquid and the cinnamon, guajillo chiles, ginger, turmeric and galangal powder, along with the Thai curry paste. Simmer for 15 minutes if meat was already cooked, simmer for 30 minutes or longer if meat was raw when you started. This will allow the spices to mingle with meat and the meat to get tender. Add cubed squash and continue to simmer until squash is done. Add tomatoes and cook just until tomatoes have softened up a bit, but have not fallen apart. Thickening is optional, but you can if so desired. I had a dab of leftover sweet potato puree in the freezer and added 3-4 tablespoons of that for thickening my soup a bit.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 3 large servings, each contains:

309 calories

19.8 g fat

9.23 g carbs, 2.23 g fiber, 7 g NET CARBS

24.2 g protein

627 mg potassium

193 mg sodium