Boiled only beef/chicken stew

Considering that today most of us eat unhealthy foods compared to our grandparents and great-grandparents, I think it is good that we try as much as possible to reduce our intake of these foods.
I don’t like using a lot of cooking fat or oil when cooking, although some dishes require it especially those that have to be dip-fried. Lately, I have been trying to come up with some easy recipes that can be cooked by methods like boiling, steaming and baking.

I have found that soups that include beef and chicken can be cooked by boiling only and the end-product is very delicious. Also, boiling does not require a lot of attention and I can actually multitask; I can be doing my laundry on a Saturday morning while boiling away some lunch soup/stew, githeri(mixture of beans/peas and maize), or muthokoi(beans/peas and maize without the husks). Githeri and muthokoi cooked using dry maize and beans take longer periods to cook than the stews.

There are those who soak the maize and beans overnight then boil for a few minutes the following. I DO NOT do this because the food is not usually as delicious compared to that which has been boiled for two or three hours depending on the amount.

Anyway, this post is not about cooking maize and beans/peas but boiled stew. One of my favorite is a mixture of beef, potatoes, plantains, cabbage and other vegetables. I’ll however post this recipe later.
Let me share this simple beef/chicken stew with you. It is similar to the other that I will post later.

The idea is to start with the ingredients that take a much longer time to cook, in this case, meat. Those that take the least time are added at the end.

Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg beef/chicken
• 4 large potatoes cut in half
• 3 large tomatoes
• 1 bunch coriander/dania (optional)
• Royco

Procedure:

1. Put chopped meat into a coking pot and add about 3 cups of water. Bring to boil.
2. Boil for about thirty minutes until they are almost tender.
3. Add the potatoes, cover and cook until the a fork can pierce the potatoes without crumbling.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and dania. Add some little royco/curry powder of your choice and cook till both the potatoes and tomatoes are cooked.
5. Add the rest of the royco and salt and let boil for five minutes.
6. Serve 

Other spices can be added instead of the royco like ground garlic or ground coriander if the fresh alternative is not used. At this point, add only those spices that are in ground form sice they would not require a lot of cooking.
The stew can be served with chapati, rice, mukimo, boiled plantains, or even served as an accompaniment of the githeri (whose easy recipe I will post later).
You can experiment with other ingredients and vegetables to your liking but remember to always start with those that take longer time to cook.