Ninja Foodi: Moroccan Beef Stew

The recipe ratio is adapted from the April 2020 issue of Men's Health, which calls for lamb stew meat, and this recipe substitutes beef for lamb. While I really enjoy grilled lamb for the occasional treat, lamb meat is price prohibitive at nearly $12/lb at my local grocery store w/ a butcher counter. And, after wondering what made this beef stew "Moroccan", I added some dried apricots and raisins it as well. While it is peculiar that there's no added salt, there is salt in some of the canned goods used to make the stew. For the green olives, I am using green castelvetrano olives. At my local grocery store chain, it sells under the HemisFares label in a 4.2 oz glass jar. It has a radically different taste and texture than the generic brand canned green olives that one would use in a salad or cocktail.

TheFoodening Blog - Moroccan Beef Stew

Ingredients

1 lb beef stew meat, cubed
1 15-oz can organic garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can organic diced tomatoes
4 organic carrots, diced
4 oz pitted green olives, drained and rinsed
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
7 dried apricot slices
2 tbsp raisins
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp Better than Bouillon Beef Flavor + 2 cups of water
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander

Directions

Having a Ninja Foodi means that I can start with a lack of planning and preparation to make most beef-based recipes. I imagine that if I had fresh stew meat on hand, I would skip this step and go straight to browning the meat in the Foodi on its sauté setting. In the event that you are starting from frozen beef stew meat. Here's what you do:

In the Foodi, add to the cooking pot, 1 lb frozen stew meat plus 1 cup of water. Pressure cook on high for 1 minute and quick release. This is my half cooked and still raw but thawed method.

Remove the lid and add the rest of the ingredients.

Pressure cook for 25 minutes on high with a natural release.

Once you remove the lid, discard the cinnamon stick. Serve hot.

Ninja Foodi: Beef Stew with Lentils and Potatoes

This is a non-tomato-based beef stew. It is also a two-part recipe. I cooked the lentils separately then added them to the stew ingredients when cooking the beef. I also used two types of potatoes for this because that's what I had on hand: one gold potato and one sweet potato.

TheFoodening Blog: beef stew with lentils

For the lentils:

1/2 c dry green lentils
1 c Trader Joe's miso broth

Ninja Foodi: cook lentils on Hi for 20 minutes.

For the stew:

1 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1" pieces
2 organic celery ribs, diced
8 oz white mushrooms, cleaned
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 gold potato, diced
1 sweet potato (white flesh), diced
1 bay leaf, optional
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste

Ninja Foodi: cook stew on Hi for 25 minutes, natural release. Serve hot with bread or crackers.

Ninja Foodi Beef Stew

Taste-wise, this beef stew is spot on and comparable to what you'd get at a restaurant or knew what you were doing in the kitchen. Not sure what meat cut was used for this beef stew, typically leaner/tougher cuts are used for stew as it tends to cook longer. But, longer cooking does not make meat tender. It's the fat and marbling that makes that happen; and appropriate heat/time used to cook it. The texture of the beef is okay; cooked but not tender. 

TheFoodening Blog: Ninja Foodi Beef Stew

Ingredients

1 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1" pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
15 oz organic tomato sauce
2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
2 organic carrots, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp beef bouillon (I use "Better than Buillon Beef Flavor")
2.5 c filtered water
2 tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp dry vermouth, optional
dried herbs: parsley, thyme, basil, paprika
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Soup thickener:

2 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp cold water, mixed together

Total cooking time: about an hour

Directions

1. Sear the meat in olive oil either stove top or using the saute function in the Ninja Foodi. Brown all the edges of the meat then transfer to the Ninja Foodi cooking pot.

2. As you are preparing the vegetables, set the Ninja Foodi to Saute. Add vermouth to deglaze the pot, carrots, potatoes, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper.

3. Select "Pressure" and "Hi" on the cooker. Set the timer for 25 minutes.

4. Natural release 10 minutes, then quick release.

5. Stir in cornstarch mixture. It will thicken before serving.

Makes: 2 quarts