Beef & Bean Stew with Dumplings
Beef & Bean Stew is simple comfort food for chilly days and nights. And it’s even better with fluffy suet dumplings cooked on top.
As well as tender cubes of beef and gravy thickened with veg, there’s beans in this economical stew too.
In this post you’ll find instructions for making it in an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker and in the oven. Or you can adapt it for your own slow cooker.
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As I write, the first proper snow this winter, fallen a couple of days ago, has almost disappeared. Before that we had torrential rain and flooding. Now forecasts say there’s more on the way and Storm Dennis hits this weekend.
So it’s definitely time to batten down the hatches and stay inside with some proper comfort food. And that means a hearty stew with some rib-sticking suet dumplings.
BEEF & BEAN STEW
I confess that this recipe is really just a reworking of my Venison Stew with Suet Dumplings from a year or so ago:
The only real difference is beef and beans instead of venison, plus a little chopped rosemary rather than juniper and bay leaves.
But it’s such an easy recipe with satisfying results, I think it’s well worth sharing this variation.
Of course, adding beans makes the dish a little more economical, stretching a smaller amount of meat further. I also like what the beans contribute in terms of nutrition, flavour and texture.
The reason I made this particular Beef & Bean Stew was that, although I did have a kilo of beef in the freezer, I wanted to use half of it for a batch of Homemade Potted Beef.
So I eked out 500 grams of beef with a drained can of cannellini beans. Cannellini are just about my favourite bean. I think they have a much better flavour and texture than haricot or butter beans.
But you can substitute any bean you like or have in the cupboard.
If you want to cook your own from dried, then you’ll need to end up with around 240 grams of cooked beans.
As with my Venison Stew recipe, I’ve given instructions for making the Beef & Bean Stew in an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker and in the oven.
After you’ve browned the beef plus a little bacon, then softened the vegetables (onion, celery, carrot, garlic), the stew will take around 40 minutes in the Instant Pot or 2 – 3 hours in a low oven. If you want to make the stew in your slow cooker, then you’ll need adapt the recipe in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.
THE BEEF
While Beef & Bean Stew is a relatively economical meal, I do think it pays to get the best beef that you can. And preferably local to you.
Pretty much all of the beef I buy is from either Denstone Hall Farm Shop or The Village Butcher Ipstones. The beef they sell is raised on their own or other trusted local farms so I know exactly where it’s come from.
My preference is for shin of beef. As you can see from the image above, it has lots of connective tissue. This breaks down during the cooking to give beautiful flavour and texture.
Shin also has the advantage of usually being sold in big hunks. That means you can decide how large you want to dice it. I like quite big chunks in my stew.
When I can’t get shin I buy ready diced stewing beef. Although this is often in pieces smaller than I’d ideally like, and doesn’t have the same amount of connective tissue, it will still give you a knockout stew.
DUMPLINGS
You could serve the Beef & Bean Stew with potatoes, bread, rice or another grain. But isn’t there something particularly pleasing about fluffy suet dumplings bobbing about on a good stew, their bottoms being kissed by the meaty gravy?
If you’ve never had dumplings, you might be surprised at how light they can be and not at all stodgy.
You’ll need some suet of course. I use that one in the famous red, yellow and blue box. (Is there actually anyone else who makes it?). The suet comes in convenient little pellets, coated in flour so they don’t stick together.
Suet has a long shelf life, so I usually keep some in the cupboard, not least for Homemade Christmas Mincemeat.
However, if you think you’re unlikely to use suet very much and don’t want to buy it especially, then substitute grated butter.
Dumplings are incredibly simple to make. All you do is grab a bowl and add self raising flour, salt, plus the suet and bind them into a soft dough with a little cold water. Add a few herbs like parsley and chives too if you like.
When the stew’s finished cooking, you just roll the dough into little balls, plop them on top of the gently simmering stew and whack on a lid. Depending on how big you made the dumplings, they’ll take between 10 and 20 minutes. I prefer dinky little ones these days.
SERVING & STORING BEEF & BEAN STEW
I think the appearance of the stew and dumplings is greatly improved with a scattering of fresh and colourful parsley over the top.
There’s a decent amount of veg and beans in the stew, but I like to serve some sautéed veg, mainly greens, too. A splash of cream right at the end of sautéing makes a nice contrast with the rich, beefy stew. I put a dish in the middle of the table for everyone to dig in and spoon some veggies into their bowl of stew as they go.
In the one you see here there’s cabbage, cavolo nero, leeks, carrot, celeriac plus a bit of bacon and garlic.
If you’re not eating all the stew at once (the recipe serves 4), once cooled it should keep for 3 days in the fridge.
The stew also freezes well so is good for batch cooking. The dumplings will need to be eaten straight away while they’re still fluffy. But I doubt this will be a problem though as they’re so light and moreish.
If you’ve made my Beef & Bean Stew, I’d love to hear what you thought. Let me know via the Comments section below.
Beef & Bean Stew with Dumplings
Beef & Bean Stew is simple comfort food for chilly days & nights - and even better with fluffy suet dumplings on top. Instructions include making in the oven and also in an Instant Pot which will reduce the cooking time considerably.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 100 g smoked bacon, diced
- 10 g butter
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- salt & pepper
- 500 g stewing beef e.g. shin diced
- 1 large onion roughly chopped
- 1 large carrot roughly chopped
- 1 stick celery roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 600 ml beef stock low salt if possible
- 1-2 tsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 1 tin cannellini or other beans drained weight approx 240g
- 2 tbsp parsley finely chopped
For the dumplings
- 150 g self raising flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 75 g shredded beef suet or grated butter
- 1 tbsp herbs, e.g. parsley, chives (optional) finely chopped
- cold water to mix
Instructions
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In a large frying pan (or using the Saute function on an Instant Pot [IP] electric pressure cooker), heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil.
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When the oil is hot, add the smoked bacon pieces and cook until well browned (approx 10 min).
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Remove the bacon from the pan or IP, leaving the fat behind.
If cooking the stew in the oven transfer the bacon to a casserole dish and preheat the oven to 140C/120C fan/Gas ½
If using an IP transfer the bacon to a plate.
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Add the butter to the frying pan or IP and heat it.
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In a large container, season the flour sparingly with salt & plenty of black pepper. Tip in the diced beef and stir/shake until the meat is lightly coated in flour.
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In batches, brown the meat all over in the oil and butter. Transfer the browned beef to the casserole dish or plate to join the bacon. Add more olive oil as you go if needed.
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When all the meat has been browned and set aside, add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the fat. Season with a pinch of salt and some black pepper. Saute, stirring regularly, until softening and starting to brown (10-15 min).
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If cooking the stew in the oven
Transfer the softened vegetables to the casserole dish with the bacon and browned meat. De-glaze the frying pan with 200ml of the beef stock, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Tip it all into the casserole dish, along with the rest of the beef stock, the drained cannellini beans and the rosemary. Stir well.
Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove then put in the preheated oven with a tight fitting lid on. Cook until the beef is very tender (2-3 hours). Taste and add more seasoning if needed.
If using an IP
Pour all of the beef stock into the IP, over the vegetables. Stir well, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in the drained cannellini beans, the rosemary, the browned bacon and the beef.
Press the Keep Warm/Cancel button, lock on the IP lid and make sure the lever is pointing to 'Sealing'. Press the Manual button then use the + / - buttons to set the time to 40 minutes.
Leave until the time has elapsed and the indicator has counted down to zero. Switch off and leave until the pressure has naturally released. Switch the lever to 'venting' then carefully remove the lid. If the beef is not completely soft, cook for a further 5 minutes then check again. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.
NOTE stew can be cooled then refrigerated or frozen at this stage.
For the Dumplings
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Combine the self raising flour, a pinch of salt and the suet (plus the herbs if using) in a bowl.
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Sprinkle a few tablespoons of cold water over, then bring the mixture together into a soft dough, first using a round-bladed knife then your hands. Add more water if needed and handle as gently as possible.
Lightly roll into 8 or 12 dumplings.
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If cooking in the oven (or reheating on top of the stove)
With the stew at a low simmer, drop in the dumplings, replace the lid, and leave to cook for 10-20 minutes either in the oven or on top of the stove.
If you used an IP to cook the stew I recommend transferring the stew to a casserole dish or saucepan and cook the dumplings in the oven or on top of the stove as above.
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When the dumplings are risen, look fluffy and cooked all the way through, sprinkle over the chopped parsley and serve the stew and dumplings in individual bowls.
Serve with extra vegetables if liked.
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