South American Lamb Stew
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This stew takes a long time to cook but it's as simple as can be to put together.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: South American
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
Refrito
  • 1 red onion (roughly chopped)
  • 2 green capsicum (bell peppers) roughly chopped
  • 4 tomatoes roughly chopped
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 serrano pepper cut lengthwise with seeds removed
Stew
  • 1.5 kg (3.5 lbs) Lamb - I used a boneless leg of lamb
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 60 grams dark brown sugar (or use panela or pilloncillo if you can get it)
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (or ½ teaspoon anchiote powder if you can get it)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 4-5 whole cloves
  • 4-5 whole allspice
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 2 celery stalks (roughly chopped)
  • 12 ounces light beer
Yellow Rice
  • 3 cups cooked white rice
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon butter
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 cup fresh corn kernels
  • ¼ cup frozen peas
  • 1 tablespoon chopped coriander (cilantro)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 green end of a spring onion sliced thinly
Confit Shallots
  • 12 French shallots, peeled ((I cooked heaps so I'd have some for other uses)
  • olive oil, enough to cover the shallots
Fried Bananas
  • 2 bananas, peeled and sliced (if the bananas are large, cut them in half lengthwise as well)
  • 1½ tablespoons butter
Instructions
  1. Cut the lamb into bite size pieces, of about 2.5cm (1 inch)
  2. Season with salt, ground pepper and ground cumin on all sides. Set aside.
Refrito
  1. Add all refrito ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and whiz until you have a smooth puree. Depending upon the size of your food processor, you might need to do this in batches
Stew
  1. Pour the refrito in a large crockpot, and season it with the salt, ground pepper, ground cumin and cayenne pepper and stir to combine.
  2. Add the seasoned, diced lamb meat to the refrito. Stir to combine. Add the brown sugar, whole cloves, whole allspice, oregano and celery stalks. Stir to combine. Pour the beer over the mixture and stir one last time.
  3. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for eight hours, or high for four hours.
  4. Before serving, remove the celery stalks, whole cloves and allspice.
  5. Serve warm with yellow rice and fried bananas
Yellow Rice
  1. Saute the onion in the oil and butter and once the onions begin to turn translucent, add the turmeric and the corn and cook for another minute.
  2. Cook the rice and just before it's finished add the onion mixture, salt and peas. When the rice is cooked add the coriander and spring onions and serve.
Confit Shallots
  1. Preheat oven to 135C / 275F
  2. Place peeled shallots in the bottom of a roasting dish and cover with olive oil. Roast for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
  3. Once cool, toss in the stew near the end of cooking.
  4. (Save the oil for another use)
Fried Bananas
  1. Heat a skillet to medium-high heat and add the butter. When melted add the bananas and cook until golden brown on the bottom and flip and cook the other side the same way.
  2. You could sprinkle a bit of cinnamon over the top just before serving.
Recipe by Orgasmic Chef at https://orgasmicchef.com/south-american-lamb-stew/