Recipe: Beef Stew with Okra

The Survoye (also known as Assyrians or Arameans) are one of the oldest population groups in the Middle East. In the cookbook Haniyé, Matay de Mayee collected the recipes of his mother, Smuni Turan. In her kitchen, the world’s oldest recorded Survoye recipes form the common thread. As a result, Haniyé — eat deliciously in Aramaic — is a unique cookbook filled with special recipes. You make this beef stew with the okra vegetable known throughout the Middle East.

Matay: “Okra. I love this crisp, flavorful vegetable, but it is not yet really well known in the Netherlands. It therefore always takes some searching to find fresh okra, but you can usually find it at the market or at a Middle Eastern supermarket. They look like small peppers or mini courgettes. Frozen okra is ideal because it is available all year round and keeps for a long time. Make sure the pods are small and feel firm, because then they are deliciously tender. The Survoye call okra ‘bamya’, which is also the name of the most important dish you make with it: a fragrant stew.”

How to make beef stew with okra

• Heat the butter in a large pan and sear the meat on all sides over high heat. Add the garlic, paprika, ground coriander, salt and black pepper and fry everything for another 1 minute. Add the boiling water and bay leaves and simmer for 2½ hours over low heat until the meat is tender. Add a little extra water if the liquid evaporates too quickly.
• Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat and gently fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add the tomato and stir-fry everything for another 25 minutes over low heat. Then stir in the tomato purée and chilli flakes.
• Remove the bay leaves from the pan with the stew and discard them. Add the onion mixture to the meat and simmer for 15 minutes over low heat.
• Place the frozen okra in a colander, put it under the tap and run cold water over the vegetables until they have thawed. Add the okra to the stew and let everything simmer for another 15 minutes.
• Serve the okra stew with rice or bulgur.

Title: Haniyé
Author: Matay de Mayee
Price: €33,99
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers

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