Beef Stew with Dumplings — Print Recipe

A rich, dark beef stew slow-cooked with root vegetables and topped with fluffy suet dumplings that steam until light as clouds.

Ingredients

800g braising beef, cubed
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, quartered
3 carrots, chunked
2 parsnips, chunked
3 cloves garlic, crushed
500ml beef stock
330ml English ale
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 bay leaves
Fresh thyme sprigs
For dumplings: 175g self-raising flour, 85g beef suet or vegetable suet, 1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped, 120ml cold water, salt

1 Toss beef in seasoned flour. Brown in batches in oil in a hot casserole. Remove and set aside.
2 Sauté onions for 5 min. Add garlic, carrots, and parsnips, cook 3 min.
3 Return beef, pour in stock and ale. Add tomato paste, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to a simmer.
4 Cover and cook at 160°C (325°F) for 1.5 hours until beef is tender.
5 Make dumplings: mix flour, suet, parsley, and salt. Add water to form a soft dough. Shape into 8 balls.
6 Place dumplings on top of the stew. Cover, return to oven for 25-30 min until dumplings are puffed and cooked through.

Did You Know?

Suet dumplings have been a feature of English cooking since the medieval period and were designed to stretch expensive meat across more servings.