Red Wine Beef Stew

Stews are really important for mothers. From the East to the West, mothers make stews: chicken, lamb, beef, veggies, tofu and egg stews. There are just a few but there are so many of them!

While the kids were growing up, they eat stews everyday, because the older three were national representatives in their sports. They trained about 11 times a week, and because the place they trained was 45 minutes’ drive from home, and because I wanted them to eat within 30 minutes of exercise, and because I only wanted home cooked food for them,  I’d boil the ingredients in that thermal pot and put the pot with many tupperware into the car. The stew will continue to cook in the thermal pot, together with a layer of rice.

I’d scoop them into bentos just before they finish their training, feed the younger boys first, and then the older ones will eat their dinners in the car. Always stews, all sorts of stews. By the time we reach home, dinner’s done, and I only had to clean up. For many, many years while they were growing up.

Those were the days Little One was my knapsack, and I suffered years of back pain for carrying babies. But do I miss them! Those were also the days I enjoyed watching my kids do their sports and they would bring home trophies and medals. There were so many sweat and tears behind each training, but nothing a stew cannot sooth.

Vary the base with tomato, wine, white, clear soup, vary the vegetables, from roots to leaves to fruits, vary the herbs, vary the spices, vary the meats. There are literally thousands of combinations. I must have done hundreds of them in different ways.

Today, I made a simple red wine beef stew. Cooked in 30 minutes. And I always cook this stew this way, the most orthodox of my stews. 🙂