Beef Stew

Ingredients

·        2 pounds of lean beef, sliced
3 tablespoons of oil
2 tablespoons of flour
2 large onions
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
1 ¼ cup of Guinness beer
2 cups of carrot chunks
1 sprig of thyme
Salt
Ground pepper

Preparation
1. First of all, trim the beef from any fat and slice them into cubes. This is to make it easier to cook and allow flavour to seep into the beef faster, cutting the cooking time. However, do not slice them too small where they will disintegrate during the cooking and you'll be having carrot stew instead.
After you have done slicing them into cubes, toss them in a bowl with the oil. Put it flour, salt, ground pepper and perhaps a pinch of cayenne pepper powder to create a mild aroma and fiery taste, if needed. Smear the beef completely with the mixture.
2. Brown the beef on all sides using a frying pan and oil over a high heat. During the process, add in onions and tomato puree to the pan and cook them gently for five minutes. You can also put garlic into the mixture if you want to put a strong taste into the beef.
3. Transfer the beef from the pan into a pot and pour some of the Guinness beer into the frying pan. Boil the mixture and the beer for one or two minutes and transfer it to the pot along with the beef. This is to make sure that the mixture of the pan and the beer to dissolve together. Insert the remaining Guinness and a sprig of thyme into the fray and stir until the beef is tender.
4. Keep stirring the contents of the pot and cover them during the last thirty minutes of the cooking. Stir them gently to prevent the meat from disintegrating. During the last fifteen minutes, add in the carrots and thyme and let it cook. If you want to cook the carrots longer, you can insert them during the last thirty minutes.
5. Taste the stew and correct the seasoning of the stew if needed. Remove the twig of the thyme before serving.To top it off, scatter the stew with chopped parsley or arugula that can create a peppery taste. This dish yields six to eight servings.