Beef casserole

I have wanted to do a beef soup or cassarole for a very long time, but it's only after coming here, where my local supermarket does a pack of stewing beef. It's the cheapest beef I can find, and it's probably the leftover bits that the butcher cuts off (it sure looks that way) rather than cubed stewing beef which is specially cut that way. Other than how it looks, there is an upside. There is a lot of fat, so the beef, once it cooks down, is actually really tender and just falls apart. The fat can be quite easily skimmed off.

What I would add to this casserole? Vegs like carrots, celery and potatoes, but being a single eater, I didn't want to put in that much food. But it would make this casserole more of a stew than the watery soup that my recipe produces.

This is a very simple fuss-free recipe, so I don't even bother doing things like flouring and browning the meat but if you had the time, you should of course do it.

Ingredients

300g stewing beef, cubed

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp wine (either chinese or red wine)

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp dark soya

1 tbsp light soya

Herbs (whatever you like, rosemary, sage, oregano, parsley, etc)

Black pepper to taste

1 to 2 cups of water (sufficient to cover the meat)

Method

1) Marinate the beef. This is not really essential, because the beef will be in the oven for a very long time.

2) Put the meat in a covered casserole, or a dutch oven if you have one. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C and pop in the pot when ready. After 20 to 30 mins, once it has come to a rolling boil, turn down the heat to 100 deg C. Let it simmer gently for 1 hour. Turn off the heat. It is ready to serve, but what I do (to save electricity) is to turn off my oven and let it continue cooking in the residual heat, where it will happily do so for up to 4 hours, and it is still warm enough (not boiling hot) to serve for dinner.

3) Serve with rice, garlic bread, or mashed potatoes - whatever you like!