Chinese Beef Stew with Daikon

It was only last Sunday when we put on our shorts and flip-fops to welcome the apparent arrival of spring. And then late last night came the snowstorm that brings the temperature down from the 70's to 20's, together with 12 inches of snow. Throughout the day, the incessant snow that resembled sifted flour had me wonder if the angels have been busy baking for somebody's birthday.

Seems like the season for comfort stews is far from over. For a wintry night like this, I love having a pot of hearty beef stew simmering on top of the stove to welcome OCT home. Because I still have some beautiful daikons left from making my favorite Crispy Daikon Cake, I decided to make an Asian inspired beef stew. There's a kind of Chinese beef stew which has daikon in it which my friend E used to rave about. She said that her grandma made the best Chinese beef stew with daikon in the entire world. Growing up in a family that doesn't eat beef, I have unfortunately not tasted this form of beef stew before. Neither have I met up with E's legendary grandma who makes the mean pot of chinese beef stew. So this is my take on the chinese beef stew with daikon. The way I envision it to be.In my humble opinion, I wouldn't think it resembles the original version in anyway, but this version is delicious nonetheless.

To inject some chinese flavor in this beef stew, I use some whole unpeel garlic cloves, star anises and five spice powder to season the broth. Instead of fresh cremini and white button mushrooms, dried shiitakes are reconstituted and used. Then I decided to incorporate some of my favorite elements of a classic American beef stew, such as red wine, swanson's low sodium beef broth and carrot into the pot.

You can call it the Americanized Chinese Beef Stew if you must, since I don't make the beef broth from scratch using beef bones, and traded the Chinese Shaoxing wine (which I obviously have in the pantry) for the bottle of leftover red in my fridge. Whatever. Wait. Let's call it......MAC BeST. (Mandy's Americanized Chinese Beef Stew, get it? :))

I know. It's lame. Just humor me by pretending that it's funny for a second, ok?

I am submitting this recipe for the Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Anna of Morsels and Musings this week. The rest of the world deserve to know that daikon tastes great in beef stew. :)


MAC BeST (Mandy's Americanized Chinese Beef Stew)

1.5 pounds sirloin tip roast,trimmed and cubed
2 medium onion, peeled and minced
1 large daikon, ( about 12-14 oz) peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1.5 cups chopped carrot
2 cups of low sodium beef broth
1 cup red wine
2 cups water
10-15 dried shiitake mushroom, reconstituted in warm water for 1 hour until soft, halved or quartered, depending on how big the shiitake mushrooms are
1/2 tsp five spice powder
2 star anise
5 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tsp salt
white pepper


Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 10 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Remove to a plate.

Place flour in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil + 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add half of beef mixture; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Add browned beef to onion. Repeat procedure with remaining beef mixture and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Add 1 cup wine to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add star anise, five spice powder, broth, sugar, mushrooms and garlic cloves; bring to a boil. Stir in beef mixture. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for one hour or until beef is tender.

Stir in daikon and carrot. Simmer for one and a half hour to two hour or until beef and vegetables are very tender and sauce is thick, stirring occasionally. Taste and season with salt and pepper. If time allows, increase the total cooking time to 3 hours, so that all the ingredients have more time to meld together.

p/s: The beef stew tastes better the next day!