Bœuf sauce bloquée

🥘 Congolese beef with onion, tomato, red palm oil and peanut oil, simmered until tender in a short coating sauce. Four servings without sides.

Ingredients

• 700 g trimmed braising beef shoulder, 3 cm cubes
• 400 g diced ripe tomatoes with juice
• 250 g sliced onion
• 8 g chopped garlic
• 20 ml food-grade red palm oil
• 20 ml peanut oil
• 300 ml hot reserve water, only as needed
• 4 g salt, adjusted
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

Prepare vegetables; trim and weigh 700 g beef cubes. Do not wash raw beef; separate its utensils from ready-to-eat foods.

Heat both oils moderately. Lightly brown beef in batches for six to eight minutes total without smoking oils.

Add onion for five minutes, garlic for 30 seconds and some salt and pepper. Lower heat and cover.

Simmer gently 60–90 minutes, checking regularly. Turn pieces and add reserve hot water in small amounts only if juices dry before tenderness.

When beef begins to yield, add tomatoes and juice. Simmer partly covered 20–30 minutes, or longer until tender.

Uncover and reduce gently into a short sauce that coats the beef, stirring near the bottom without crushing pieces.

Taste cooked sauce and adjust salt and pepper. Loosen with a spoonful of hot water if too tight; do not aim for a burnt bottom.

Serve four portions hot. Cool promptly in shallow containers, refrigerate up to 48 hours and reheat thoroughly with a little water.