Vietnamese Beef and Lemongrass Stew- “Bo Kho” Mom’s Recipe & Shortcut
What a perfect winter stew for the season. Bo kho is a delicious Vietnamese stew.
*Check out my mom’s easy hack to making this dish
“Bo” translates to beef, and Kho translates to “braise” in Vietnamese- which means we’re braising some beef today to make this savory stew.
Bo Kho is similar to a traditional beef stew but this Vietnamese version is a lot more aromatic.
Bo Kho is flavored with fragrant lemongrass, chili peppers, garlic, star anise and cinnamon. Beef is stewed until it creates a beautiful broth and the meat turns fork tender. Later carrots and other vegetables (root vegetables such as daikon, potatoes…) are added to round out this rich savory dish. The deep red color comes from the addition of tomatoes, tomato paste (or tomato sauce), and annoto oil.
Traditionally, beef shank, flank, tendon, oxtail and/or beef chuck are used to make this dish. ***However, my mom has her own shortcut method that uses pre-cubed beef. You can literally see this packaged in the meat aisle as “beef stew meat”.
My favorite way to have this is with a wedge of lemon with a warm French baguette. Squeeze a little lime or lemon into your bowl of stew, then tear off a piece of your baguette and dip it into the broth while eating a piece of that delicious fork tender meat!
Shank, "chuck" or bottom eye/round/roast are rich in connective tissue which is going to give your stew a really nice mouthfeel and will yeild fall apart tender meat. Don’t use london broil or beef round because they are too lean and by the time you get them tender the flavor and texture will be compromised.
For my parent’s non-short cut edition of Bo Kho recipe, click -here-
INGREDIENTS
2-2.5 lbs of beef stew cubes (cubed beef cross-cut shanks, beef chuck or brisket, flank steak, boneless short ribs or beef chuck. Shanks, oxtail and flank steaks are the most common cut for this)
Marinade:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tbs vegetable oil (or tea seed oil)
3-4 tbs vegetable oil (or tea seed oil)
1/2 large onion (sliced into big quarter half moons)
3-4 dried whole chili peppers
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp smoked paprika powder
1 tbs tomato paste
1 can of diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce)
1 knob of ginger (peeled and sliced, 3” long)
1 star anise
1 piece of cinnamon about 1” long
4 carrots (sliced 1/2” thick diagonals)
GARNISH
Cilantro
Lime or lemon wedges
Red onion (optional, thinly sliced)
Scallions (optional)
French baguette
PREPARATION
Marinate the meat by adding beef into a large bowl and adding all marinade ingredients, mix with your hands or chopsticks and marinate for at least one hour in fridge (marinate overnight in fridge for best results).
In a large 5 qt pot, add oil to coat the bottom of the pan (about 3-4 tbs of oil) and turn heat up to medium to medium high heat.
Add garlic and fry until fragrant. Toss in onions and chili peppers and stir until coated with oil (about 30 seconds). Then remove peppers and onions and transfer to a clean bowl.
Add another 1 tbs oil, 1 tsp curry powder and paprika, and mix until curry powder turns a bright vibrant color and fragrant. Then add meat and let brown on each side.
Stir in tomato paste and add about 1/2 to 1 cup water, and diced tomato and cover pot with lid, add ginger, red chili peppers (crack apart one or two of the chili peppers in for added heat), star anise, cinnamon stick and lemongrass and mix, let it come to a bowl, then lower to a low simmer and let it braise for about an hour. You don’t need to pour all the water in yet because the meat juices will render out.
Slowly add remaining water and continue to braise (with lid on) for about another 1-2 hours until meat is fork tender. Mix occasionally to turn meat.
When meat is tender, add in your carrots and cook until tender. Taste broth, add salt as needed or a little fish sauce (about 1-2 tsp of fish sauce).
Then add onions and mix.
When ready, garnish with cilantro or basil leaves. Squeeze a little lime or lemon and serve with a warm baguette.