A better than average stew

Finding some cheap-ish gravy beef and pumpkin at Harris Farm last weekend led me to search for recipes including both, and I settled on this:  Vietnamese One Pot Beef and Pumpkin Stew.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs/ 1 kg boneless beef chuck, cut into cubes
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 lemongrass stalk, cut into big pieces and bruised
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 jalapeño chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 lb./ 450g butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut in rounds
• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• fresh basil and coriander leaves, chopped to garnish
• salt and pepper

Mix the floor, soy, garlic, ginger, sugar and lemongrass together with the cubed meat and let it marinate an hour or so.  Brown it in batches in the olive oil; add the onion to soften, the chilli (I just used flakes, actually), the tomato paste, the tomatoes (I did skin them), and stock and scrap the bottom of the cooking vessel.  Add the meat and simmer covered for an hour or so.  Add the pumpkin and carrots and go for another 30 to 40 minutes.  

I think maybe it was the lack of wine, and the addition of soy and sugar, that did make it taste somewhat different to my usual casserole type dishes, which are usually heavy with red wine.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  (I also think it is good to avoid canned tomatoes sometimes - they are convenient but can work to make different recipes taste similar.)

Maybe the only thing that makes it "Vietnamese" is the lemongrass and soy, but I did add basil on top too, and ate it with a nice piece of sourdough.   Very nice.