Because I like to improvise in the kitchen and invent new recipes, today I show you how to make a beef and cabbage stew recipe, step by step, and a little different from what you are used to. It will result, you will see, in a very tasty dish, with wonderful flavours and which will surely be loved by the whole family.
Table of Contents
It is an interesting recipe, in which we will actually make a cabbage stew and a beef stew and we will combine them, resulting in a delicious dish for dinner.
As a description, it looks like the Polish dish “bigos” or the Hungarian “székelykáposzta”, the difference being that these recipes are made with sauerkraut and I chose to use fresh cabbage.
Let’s See the Ingredients
We need relatively few basic ingredients, fresh cabbage, beef, onions, beef stock and tomato juice.
I chose to use sweetheart cabbage, two pieces, which is a young cabbage and does not need much cooking time and is very delicious.
We also need beef, about 700 g, the most suitable is lean diced beef, from which we will first make a delicious stew.
And we also use three medium-sized onions, two for beef stew and one for cabbage stew.
From a tablespoon of beef concentrate, I diluted it with water and obtained about 600 ml of beef stock.
And we need about 600 ml of tomato juice.
How to Make the Beef and Cabbage Stew Recipe?
Start With the Beef Stew
As I said, we will make two stews, and we will start with the beef one because it requires a longer cooking time. For this, we clean two onions from the three and prepare the meat, which we cut into smaller pieces, in order to prepare it faster.
We chop the onion finely because I like that after long cooking, it will almost disappear in the beef stew.
In a smaller saucepan, heat about 100 ml of olive oil, in which we will fry the chopped onion, for two-three minutes.
Until the onion is fried, add a tablespoon of sweet pepper paste, one of my favourites, almost indispensable in my recipes.
Stir and fry until the onion becomes translucent.
Now add the meat, which we fry, stirring occasionally.
I sprinkled a spoonful of sweet paprika powder on top, another spice not missing from my kitchen and which I also use very often.
Stir and simmer for about 15 minutes, because the meat will leave its own juice. Season with two teaspoons of sea salt, a teaspoon of freshly ground pepper and a teaspoon of caraway powder.
After about 15 minutes, add about 600 ml of beef stock, and let it simmer for about 45 minutes, depending on the type of meat used.
While the beef is simmering, we can start the cabbage stew.
Make the Cabbage Stew
For this, we add the ingredients, that is, we clean the third onion and cut the sweetheart cabbages in two.
There are several ways to cut cabbage, I chose to cut it with a kitchen knife, into thin slices, but it’s no problem if you can’t cut it very thin.
Continue until we cut the two cabbages.
We also finely chop the third onion.
Finely chop the thyme and dill.
This time we take a soup pot for a slightly bigger one because all the sliced cabbage will have to fit. Heat 50 ml of olive oil in this and fry the chopped onion.
While the onion is frying, season with a teaspoon of caraway powder and a tablespoon of sugar, stirring occasionally.
Add sliced cabbage, the first half of the quantity, mix and then the other half of the cabbage.
Season with two teaspoons of sea salt, and about 600 ml of tomato juice, stir and bring to a boil.
Add a cup of water, thyme and half of the chopped dill. Boil everything over low heat for about 20 minutes until the cabbage softens a little.
Finishing the Dish
If we organize ourselves well, we can finish the two stews at the same time and we can combine them, to obtain my beef and cabbage stew recipe.
For this, with the help of a ladle, we remove the beef from the stew and add it to the cabbage stew. From the stew juice, we will add only a little if needed, we must finally get a coarser stew.
Add the other half of the chopped dill and simmer for another 15 minutes, until it evaporates from the liquid and we get the desired consistency.
And that’s it, that’s it my beef and cabbage stew recipe, adapted and with Hungarian influences. Let’s served it!
Serving the Stew
Serve hot, with fresh bread and a little sour cream or Greek yoghurt on top.
If you like my beef and cabbage stew recipe, on our blog you will find other cabbage recipes such as:
- Best Cabbage Soup Recipe
- Sauerkraut Sausage Soup Recipe
- Best Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Recipe
- Delicious Cabbage Casserole Recipe
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Beef and Cabbage Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 700 g lean diced beef cut in cubes
- 3 pieces onions medium-size
- 2 pieces sweetheart cabbage sliced
- 600 ml tomatoes juice
- 600 ml beef stock
- 1 tbsp sweet paprika powder
- 4 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 tbsp sweet pepper paste
- 150 ml olive oil extra virgin
- 2 teaspoons caraway powder
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 bunch dill
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 250 ml water
Instructions
- Clean the onions and prepare the meat, which we cut into smaller pieces. Chop the onion finely because, after long cooking, it will almost disappear in the beef stew. Cut the cabbage with a kitchen knife, into thin slices, but it’s no problem if you can’t cut it very thin. Finely chop the thyme and dill.
- In a smaller saucepan, heat about 100 ml of olive oil, in which we will fry the chopped onion, two-three minutes. Add a tablespoon of sweet pepper paste stir and fry until the onion becomes translucent. Add the meat, the sweet paprika powder, stir and simmer for about 15 minutes. Season with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and caraway powder, add about 600 ml of beef stock, and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.
- Take a soup pot, heat 50 ml of olive oil in this and fry the chopped onion. Season with caraway powder and sugar, stirring occasionally. Add sliced cabbage, the first half of the quantity, mix and then the other half of the cabbage. Season with sea salt, add tomato juice, stir and bring to the boil. Add a cup of water, thyme and half of the chopped dill. Boil everything over low heat for about 20 minutes until the cabbage softens a little.
- With the help of a ladle, we remove the beef from the stew and add it to the cabbage stew. Add the other half of chopped dill and simmer for another 15 minutes, until it evaporates from the liquid and we get the desired consistency.
- Serve hot, with fresh bread and a little sour cream or Greek yogurt on top.
Cynthia
Saturday 2nd of January 2021
This is making my mouth water! Wow...I consider myself a pretty good cook but it never occurred to me to combine a beef stew with a cabbage stew. Since I love cabbage and I love beef stew, I'm going to try that this weekend! I've never seen a sweetheart cabbage before. All that we have here are the round cabbage and Napa cabbage. Can I use one of those? Do you have any use for the beef liquid or do you throw it away?
Timea
Saturday 2nd of January 2021
Hi Cynthia, of course, it can be made from round cabbage as in the original recipes, and from the beef stew, I first extracted the meat and then I added as much liquid as I needed, about a ladle.