Aromatic beef stew with coriander dumplings

Feel free to substitute the short rib with cubes of chuck or even oxtail; make sure you have a good ratio of meat, bones and fat. The slightly tart chilli sauce works well with any stewing beef.

Serves 6 • Preparation: 30 minutes • Cooking time: 4 hours, 25 minutes • Oven temperature: 160°C

• 30ml olive oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

• 1 long celery stalk, finely chopped

• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 2 red chillies

• 5ml chilli flakes

• 3 plum tomatoes, chopped

• 5ml ground cumin

• 3ml ground ginger

• 3ml ground cinnamon

• 3 cloves

• 3 sprigs fresh origanum

• 5ml dried mixed herbs

• 350ml beef stock

• 60ml apple cider vinegar

• 1.5kg beef short rib, cut into 5cm cubes

• 2 bay leaves

DUMPLINGS

• 500ml flour

• 15ml baking powder

• 60ml chopped fresh coriander

• 3ml salt

• 60ml butter, at room temperature

• 250ml buttermilk

1 Sauté the onion, carrot and celery in a pan in half the oil until the vegetables are cooked and tender. Add the garlic, chilli, tomatoes, spices and herbs and stir-fry for a few more minutes. Mix in the stock and vinegar and use a stick blender to process into a sauce.

2 Preheat the oven. Heat the remaining oil in an ovenproof pot that has a lid and fry the meat in batches until golden-brown. Return all the meat, together with the bay leaves, to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and pour the sauce over. Cover and bake until the meat is melt-in-the-mouth tender and can be easily pulled apart with two forks. After 3 hours, the short rib will be lovely and fragrant and can be served with your favourite starch; however, if you want to go the pulled-meat-with-dumplings route, 4 hours will ensure the right texture.

3 Scoop the meat out of the sauce, remove all the bones and flake the meat. Spoon it back into the sauce and increase the oven temperature to 180°C.

4 Mix the flour, baking powder, herbs and salt in a mixing bowl and rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the buttermilk and cut it into the mixture with a butter knife until it starts to come together, as you do when making scones. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead lightly until just smooth. Use extra flour as needed to prevent it from sticking to the surface. Press the dough into a flat disc, about 3cm thick, and cut it into 12–15 squares. Roll each dough square into a dumpling and arrange them on top of the stew, with enough space in-between for the dumplings to rise.

Put the lid on and place back in the oven to bake for 25 minutes until the dumplings have risen and are cooked. Test one with a toothpick: if it comes out clean, they are ready.