Slow-Cooking

My wife is away in her hometown visting her ailing grandfather. I couldn't go as there was uncertainty with the duration of the visit and since we are running 90% here, I couldn't take the risk.  As the resort was busy I reckoned I'd cook my own dinner. Breakfast, lunch and tea was oats.

I rummaged through the refrigerator to see what I had. I had a big chunk of beef. I wouldn't have time to watch over the cooking of the beef so I decided to use the slow-cooker that I had borrowed from my mom last year and never did use yet. 

Slow-cooking is very convenient. It is simple yet not so simple. It is simple coz you put everything in the pot and let it braise away. It is not so simple coz you must have some 'imagination'. When slow cooking, there is no evaporation. Therefore, seasoning has to be pretty spot on. And when you add vegetables to it, the vegetables will release moisture hence adding liquid to the dish. So, you need to be able to imagine the end result. Add too much liquid and it will end up being more a of light soup. The key is to add sufficient seasoning but never over season. You can always add more seasoning later. The only downside is that your meat will be bland if there is too little seasoning.

Anyway, I decided to do a stew based on the ingredients that I had at home. I halved the beef chuck and kept the other half for the next day. I then seasoned the meat and quickly seared it all over to retain the moisture.

Everything in the pot. I then added a tablespoon of oyster sauce, some sugar to balance out the sourness from the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, a clove and half a star anise. Didn't have any cinnamon or maybe I couldn't find it.

I then topped it up with a can of whole tomatoes. Set the cooker to High and left it to cook for 6 hours. There is an Auto function but I have not figured out how to use that yet.

The end product after 6 hours.

Yummy-yummy... Tomorrow I'll do 'masak kicap' instead.