Beef & Bulgur Soup

A perfect fall or winter soup (not quite stew) made with a blend of curry spices.

Beef & Bulgur Soup
Makes 3 quarts

2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1-1/2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger (or 1 tsp dry)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds, whole
2 pounds stew meat, cut into 1” cubes
3 medium onions, chopped (about 3 cups)
5-1/4 cups beef broth
1 can stewed tomatoes (14.5 ounces), undrained
1 can garbanzos (15 ounces), rinsed and drained
1 cup bulgur, cracked wheat, or quick-cooking barley
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced

1. Combine fi rst six ingredients (spices) in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in large (5–6 quart) pot.
   
3. Add cumin seeds to hot oil. Cook and stir for 5–10 seconds (DO NOT BURN). Add spice mix; cook and stir another 10–15 seconds.
4. Add half of the meat and half of the onion to spice mixture in pot; cook and stir until brown. Remove meat (onion and spices can remain). Add remaining meat and onion. Cook and stir until meat is brown. Return all meat and onions to pot.
5. Stir in broth and undrained tomatoes. Bring to boiling; reduce heat, cover, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Stir in garbanzos, bulgur, and carrots. Return to boiling; reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20–25 minutes more, or until meat, vegetables, and bulgur are tender, stirring occasionally.

This is the kind of soup that can simmer away (covered) on the stove all day. I haven't tried it in a crock pot, but it would be tough to get the spices toasted and the beef browned that way (steps I don't recommend skipping).

Because you're adding the amount of cayenne pepper yourself, this curry blend will only be as spicy as you like. There's no harm in adding half the recommended amount, trying the final product, and adding more.

Kielbasa & Bean Stew

This week I decided to get right to the making of the new recipe. The original recipe (online here) was for Slow Cooker Lentils and Sausage.

I tweaked the original recipe based on the comments/reviews on the website and what made sense to me.

Draining the can of tomatoes does not make sense to me. I happen to think that tomato juice in a stew is just great thankyouverymuch. So we kept that. And I thought that two cans of beef broth would be too salty (and I didn't have broth on hand) so I used only half as much bullion, but kept the water around 7 cups (the original recipe uses 6.5 cups).

I also doubled the carrots and celery (12 servings and only one carrot and one celery stick in the original recipe? That's chintzy). I added an onion, potato, and a little garlic. Because stews like that sort of thing. Oh, and did I mention I had no lentils on hand, but I happen to have six pounds of mixed beans? Well, it turned into a mixed bean soup/stew. There were lentils in there... somewhere.

Seeing as though I wasn't paying attention to the number of servings, nor did I effectively tally the amount of stuff going into my slow cooker, I didn't realize until I was dumping away that this was not all going to fit. I cooked it on high for a few hours (without the last pound of kielbasa because with everything else we were already up to the rim), then transfered it over to a 6-quart soup pot when the slow cooker started to boil over. (I thought that would be a good time.)

I'm really glad I left out the second bit of beef broth, the stew was plenty salty. The kielbasa was only a little spicy, so folks might want to grind some pepper in there at some point. Leaving in the tomato juice (from the can of diced tomatoes) and adding the potato gave the stew's liquid a hearty body. I might add more carrots and celery next time because I like that sort of thing, but I didn't feel like there was a gaping hole where veggies should be.

And now the recipe, as I made it.

Kielbasa & Bean Stew

2 pounds kielbasa, cut into 1/2" slices
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice (14 ounces)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, cut into 1/2" slices
2 celery stalks, cut into 1/2" slices
1 potato, cut into 1" cubes
1 pound beans, lentils, or any combination thereof
7 cups water
1 teaspoon beef bullion
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Dump everything into a 6-quart slow cooker or soup pot. Cook on low 8-12 hours.

Makes 1 gallon (12 servings).

Enjoy!