The first time I tried making stew was....a disaster. I had called my mom the day before and written down everything she said but you know how moms give out recipes. "Take a little pepper...a tiny pinch of salt....some tomatoes". I followed her instructions to the letter. I took a little pepper sauce (couldn't find peppers), two tomatoes (small tiny ones), over cooked my meat and burnt the stew! I'm telling you this because making stew (unfortunately) can take a little practice. After two or three attempts you'll discover which spices you like and which consistency works best for you. The key to a good stew is constant experimentation and a happy attitude. So put on some high-life, hip-life, hip-hop or country (if you like that kind of thing) and lets get cooking.
The first thing is to choose your meat. It's good to start with a beef stew because beef is easier to cook. If you're like me, the different cuts of beef weren't an integral part of your secondary school education. What I found really easy was to go to the beef section of my local supermarket and select the cubed beef (if they say it's cut for easy cooking in a stew all the better). If that isn't available, pick up a cut steak. Most steak is sirloin which means there's little fat in it and it'll cook easily.
One trick for cutting down on cooking time is to marinate your beef the very day you get it. Cut the steak into pieces, pierce a little hole in each piece, rub it in whatever spice/marinate mix you desire, put it in a zip lock bag and stick it in the fridge.
Adobo is pretty much everywhere these days and it's a good choice for making a marinade.
A quick marinde receipe is : a tea spoon of Adobo, a teaspoon of curry powder, a dash of salt and as much pepper as your mouth can handle.
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