Nan's Beef Stew

From Nan:

This is the recipe that my mother used when I was a kid and I, in
turn, made for my kids. There is no real measuring so no need to fret
about exact measurements and vary amounts to the ingredients you and
the kidlets enjoy the most, e.g., more potatoes than carrots, more
carrots than celery, lots or less meat.

Although I have broken the instructions into several steps, don't let
that scare you. It is very basic and much easier than all the
typing below. Call me if you have any questions. I am tickled that you
would like to make my Hawaiian Stew and that the boys enjoyed it. 

Most important is that the meat is simmered until very tender because you
are using an inexpensive meat that is traditionally tough.

Beef Stew

1-2 lbs of beef stew meat, cubed (any inexpensive meat will do)
1 round onion, chopped
5-6 carrots, cut in chunks or sliced in 1/4-1/2" rounds
3 stalks celery, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 potatoes, diced in large chunks (about the size of a golf ball or less)
1/4-1/2 c. flour & enough water to make a thick paste (thickener)
salt, pepper to taste
Optional: diced fresh or canned tomatores - adds richness
Cooked rice or hot French bread with butter

1. In a 4-5 cup large pot, saute the onions, garlic, and celery in a
little oil until wilted. Remove from the pan.
2. Add a little oil and add the beef to sautee until browned.
3. Add back the onion-garlic-celery mixture.
4. Add water to cover the meat and vegetable mixture in the pot and
bring to a medium boil about 1-2 hours - check meat for tenderness
with a fork - tasting the meat after the 1st hour is always fun. Add
more water as needed to keep the meat covered and to make a good
"stew" gravy. However, you don't want to add too much water or you
will dilute the flavor of the meat & veggie liquid.
5. Once the meat is tender, add the carrots, let cook until 1/2 done.
Then add the potatoes.
6. Continue to cook on a low boil or high simmer until the potatoes
and carrots are cooked but not over done.
7. While the meat & veggies are simmering, mix 1/2-3/4 cups white
flour and enough water to make a thick paste the consistency of a
thick yogurt shake. Turn the heat up to bring the liquid to a low boil
and very gradually add the flour-water mixture in a small stream
stirring continuously so the thickener does not form clumps. As you
add the thickener check the consistency of the broth. If it is thick
enough to your liking, then don't add any more thickener. This is the
same method used to make gravies. You will be mixing the thickener
into areas of the liquid between the meat and veggies to mix the
thickener into the broth. (If you want to make more dirty dishes, you
can remove the meat and veggies from the pot into a large bowl and
leave just the liquid in the pot.)
8. Once you have the consistency of the stew desired, let the stew
continue to low boil for about 1 minutes to ensure the flour cooks
thoroughly then turn it down to a low simmer.
9. If you removed the beef and veggies while making the stew gravy,
add them back to the pot and let all the ingredients simmer together.
10. Add your salt and pepper to taste.
11. At this point, you can either turn the stove off and let the stew
sit until you are ready to eat, or serve it up.
12. You can serve the stew over rice or eat it with hot buttered
French bread. In Hawaii, we ate stew over rice and even added Shoyu
sauce.
13. GOOD TRICK: to add more brown color to your stew gravy, add
1/2-3/4 tsp. of instant coffee granules to darken the gravy. It will
not have any taste in your stew - only darkens the gravy. This is even
good when making turkey gravy for Thanksgiving or any gravy.

Hope you enjoy cooking this dish as it is so easy, best on the 2nd day
as a leftover, and great for cold weather meals, even campouts.