Zeraph

I'm trying to create a huge spicy stew, something that has low fat, low carbs, tastes good, and has a ton of differing sources for vitamins. So far my list is:

Chicken breast (could trade for a lean beef if yall think it'd better)
garlic clove
2 onions
carrots
mushrooms
1 head of cabbage
a few tomatoes (least sure of this one)

All finely chopped and boiled in water for ~20 minutes. I haven't tried this yet, should be making in a few days though. I'm looking for more ideas in what to put in it, and if anyone has spotted something that won't go together in it. Also, how I might season it besides the obvious salt and pepper.

Thanks

noodle

Where is your spice? and liquid?

I slow cook (90 min on stove) lean stew beef (I don't like chicken based stews, personally)with organic beef broth, carrots (a little high in carbs), whatever other veg I feel like (usually very early peas and canned or flash frozen organic white corn), some finely chopped leeks, onion, habanero or other peppers, bay leaves, garlic, thyme, oregano, kosher salt, pepper, a little sriracha, and i prefer to toss in some barley in the last 30 or so minutes, but it's not necessary. I brown the leeks and carrots and onion first, though. If you want to thicken the "stew", remember that you can take 1/2c of the liquid and 1 - 2 T of cornstarch, dissolve in the liquid, pour back in the stew and cook for another 10 min or so. Watch Cooking Light online for good, low carb, low fat base recipes to tweak. And they all need tweaking. Luck.

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spindles

you can also use tomato paste as a thickener - I find it easy to use than cornstarch, and also adds taste.

Also, if you add diced pumpkin, if this is cooked long enough, it will fall apart, ending up working as a thickener and adding sweet pumpkin flavour.

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Anormalguy

Use tomatoe juice in place of water.

Tomatoe juice has a high sodium content. If that's a concern, use reduced sodium or low sodium tomatoe juice.

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robot_parade

Here are some tips, in no particular order:

o First, you make a roux...look it up on the internet, but basically you cook equal parts flour + fat until the flour is as dark as you want it (lighter for something like chicken stew, darker for beef stew or a gumbo.)

o Stock is much better than water if you've got it. Homemade is better, but store-bought stock is better than water. A little wine doesn't hurt either.

o Not under- or over-cooking the protein matters, even for stew. Low and slow is the way to go. I put it in a big dutch oven, bring it to a simmer on the stove, then into the oven at 250 until done. Chicken takes about 45 minutes to get tender, beef or pork about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

o Herbs are good. So's tomato paste. Since I never use a whole can, I smoosh it flat in a sandwich bag, put that in the freezer, and break off chunks as I need it.

o Bones are awesome for flavor, either with making homemade stock or using a bone in cut in the stew. Chicken thighs work great, for instance.