GF Beef Stew

I'd like to apologize up front to my vegan readers (all two of you).  I love to eat meat, like big juicy steaks and lamb chops.  I am not strong enough to be vegan, and I admire you for your self control.  I do buy organic meat, when possible, but it's still meat.  So, you may occasionally find dairy free, egg free recipes that have meat on here.  Either sub in your favorite meat substitute, or skip the post.

This was one of the first allergen free recipes that I made, almost a month ago.  It seems more like years ago.  I never seem to be able to follow a recipe exactly, so it does differ from the original, mostly in vegetable substitutions.  This stew goes perfect with injera (as seen in the photo) and is perfect for these cold & rainy Seattle nights.  It also happens to freeze well.  I made up a huge pot, (the recipe said 6 servings but it was more like a million) and froze more than half.  I still have one container left, for one of those nights when I'm running behind.

Recipe (original here)

1 pound beef stew meat
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 tsp sea salt - or to taste
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tb saturated fat, like lard, palm oil, coconut oil. - You could also sub in an oil like canola, but it won't have quite the same flavor.  You could also skip the first step, mix the rice flour with 2/3 cup of water and add to the stew before it boils.  Eliminate the fat if you do that and add in the salt and pepper with the beef
1 large onion, sliced
1 tsp bay leaves
1/2 tsp allspice
chopped carrots

chopped celery

frozen corn - eliminate if you can't have corn.
8 -10 small new potatoes or fingerlings, quartered -or use whatever you have on hand.  I did
6 cups hot water

Cut the stew meat into 1 inch cubes and remove the excess fat. Add it to a mixing bowl that contains the brown rice flour, salt and pepper. Stir and make sure that all the meat is covered by the flour mixture. Put the coconut oil in a stew pot (the largest one you have) and melt. Once the oil is melted and hot, add the meat to the pan and brown on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside. 

Add the 6 cups of hot water to the Dutch oven (step back as you do this as the water will splatter). Stir the water and browned flour mixture. The flour mixture will have stuck to the bottom of the pan, but after about 10 minutes all of it will have come loose and will blend with the water. Add the bay leaves and allspice. Then add the beef and vegetables. Cook for 30 minutes. Lower the heat and allow to simmer for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the vegetables are tender. Serve over Injera, or with a slice of GF bread to sop up the gravy.