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Beef Braised in Rooibos Tea with Sweet Potatoes
Beef Braised in Rooibos Tea with Sweet Potatoes is a modern South African recipe for a classic stew of beef and sweet potato in a lightly-spiced rooibos (redbush) tea base sweetened with honey. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic South African version of: Beef Braised in Rooibos Tea with Sweet Potatoes.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
190 minutes
Total Time:
210 minutes
Serves:
4–6
Rating: 
Tags : Spice RecipesHerb RecipesBeef RecipesSouth-africa Recipes
The redbush,
Aspalathus linearis is one of the few species used by the native San peoples of the Kalahari that has been adopted by Europeans. Indeed, you can find tea bags of dried redbush leaves to make tea in British supermarkets.
Rooibos tea is sweet and has no bitter tannins it is widely-believed in South Africa to help tenderize tougher cuts of meat.
Ingredients:
600g brisket or stewing beef, trimmed of fat and cut into 5cm pieces
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, sliced
2 celery sticks, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp tomato purée
5
rooibos (redbush) tea bags
5 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 strips of orange zest
2 cinnamon sticks
4cm length of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
4 small sweet potatoes, sliced into thick rounds
150g clear honey
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
generous handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves, to garnish
Method:
Season the meat then coat with the flour. Heat the vegetable oil in the base of a flame-proof casserole then add the beef and fry over medium heat until nicely browned all over.
Add the onions and the celery to the pot and sir. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and leave to soften for 10 minutes. Now add the garlic and tomato purée and cook for 1 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the tea. Place the tea bags in a large heatproof jug or bowl and pour over 1l boiling water. Set aside to steep for 4 minutes then strain the liquid into the casserole before adding the vinegar, orange zest, cinnamon and ginger.
Reduce the heat to low, cover the casserole with a lid and cook for 2 hours, or until the meat is quite tender. Add the sweet potato slices along with the honey then season liberally with salt and black pepper.
Continue cooking for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
Garnish with the coriander and serve hot.
