During the cold winter months we tend to want to eat warming casseroles and stews and the cheaper meat cuts are ideal for this. That’s where our spicy braised beef cheeks come in. We often cook a few batches at the weekend so we have something we know we can grab from the freezer in the morning and heat up for our comfort supper. Beef cheeks are full of flavour and so tender when cooked slowly.

Ingredients

(all approximate – you can up the amounts if you want to cook a giant batch)

• 2 Ox cheeks, cut into chunks
• ½ litre of beef stock
• 4 big garlic cloves, sliced
• 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
• Thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1-2 chillies (depending on how hot you can go)
• deseeded and chopped
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 3 tbsp dark soya sauce
• 1 tsp 5-spice powder
• 3 tbsp Chinese wine or sweet sherry
• Sprinkle of sugar

Method

1. Heat oven to 150C.
2. Using a pan suitable for the oven, fry the garlic,
   ginger, onions and chilli in the oil for a few minutes
   until they are soft, then remove from the pan.
3. Coat the chunks of beef cheek in the flour and add to
   the pan in batches, browning all sides – add more oil
   if you need to. Remove all from the pan and set aside.
4. Turn up the heat under the pan and add the 5-spice
   powder, then return the garlic, ginger, onions and
   chilli to the pan and stir for about a minute.
5. Add the sugar, followed by the meat and ensure it
   is all covered by the fragrant spice mixture. Pour
   the wine into the pan and stir to get all the flavours
   mingled together.
6. Add the hot beef stock and soya sauce, bring to the
   boil, replace lid and pop in the oven for 1 hour. At
   this stage, give the meat a stir then place back in the
   oven for another hour.
7. Serve with your favourite rice (we are addicted to
   brown short grain) and any kind of wilted greens.