Beef
Vietnamese Beef Pot Pies
My most popular recipe for Vietnamese Beef Stew cooked in a slow cooker and turned into pot pies. The perfect
- Serves 4
- Prep 10 minutes
- Cook 3 hours
- Total 4 hours
I am going to be at Food Blogger Connect for three days as of tomorrow (YAY!!!) and as a result all my work and the blog is going to have to take a back seat while I drink lots of tequila studiously take notes and catch up with many blogger friends. I didn’t want to just leave the poor blog without a new post though so I have decided to post this recipe for Vietnamese Beef Pot Pies. I wasn’t planning to blog this as I really had no time to take good photos (damn the lack of light – who do I blame for that? It’s both the sun AND the earth isn’t it). But on the other hand these were so delicious that they deserve their spot on here.
Essentially these are a simplified version of my most popular recipe – One Pot Vietnamese Pot Stew. Never in a million years did I imagine that this recipe would become so hugely popular, but it has taken a life of its own on Pinterest and has garnered the most enthusiastic comments from readers around the world. This time I made the stew in the slow cooker overnight and made the pot pies the following day using store bought puff pastry. These pot pies are just the perfect comfort food – crisp pastry encasing the aromatic and warming stew, delicious beyond belief.
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Recipe
Vietnamese Beef Pot Pies
My most popular recipe for Vietnamese Beef Stew cooked in a slow cooker and turned into pot pies.
- Serves 4
- Prep 10 minutes
- Cook 3 hours
- Total 4 hours
Ingredients
- generous 1 lb (500g) beef shin, cut into cubes
- 2 cups (450ml) hot beef stock
- 1 lb (450g) butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
- 3 carrots (peeled and cubed)
- 4 large tomatoes (roughly chopped)
- 3 banana shallots (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 3 large garlic cloves (minced)
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour ((= plain flour))
- 2 green chilies (finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 star anise
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 cinnamon stick
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water ((= cornflour))
- –––
- 1 packet ready rolled puff pastry
- 1 egg (lightly beaten)
Method
- 1
Put the flour into a shallow plate and season with salt and pepper. Toss the beef in the flour to coat it. Set aside.
- 2
Add the shallots, garlic, carrots, squash, tomatoes and chili in the container of your slow cooker.
- 3
Mix the stock with the tomato paste, soy sauce, sugar and all the spices. Pour over the vegetables.
- 4
Add the beef and stir briefly. Cook on high for 3 hours on until the squash is cooked through.
- 5
Stir in the cornflour and continue to cook for another 30 minutes or until the juices have thickened slightly. Cool the stew before using in the pot pies, otherwise the puff pastry will melt.
- 6
Preheat the oven to 200C | 400F.
- 7
Take 4 small ramekins – about 4-inch (10cm) wide and 2-inch (5cm) deep – and fill with the stew almost to the top.
- 8
Cut 4 rounds of puff pastry that are slightly larger than the size of your ramekins.
- 9
Brush the rims of the dishes with a little beaten egg, and cover with the puff pastry. Press the edges lightly to seal. Cut a small hole at the center of each pot pie to allow steam to escape.
- 10
Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and place on a heavy baking tray.
- 11
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving with some steamed vegetables on the side.
Notes
Keep the pastry in the fridge until you need it and try using all butter puff pastry. If you want to make a homemade pastry topping, this recipe never fails me.
