Quick beef stew with pineapple
Golden, thick, and tangy from the pineapple softening into the coconut milk. This stew looks and smells like it took an hour. It took twenty minutes.
Beef strips seared with fresh chili, then simmered with turmeric, cumin, curry powder, frozen pineapple, and a generous pile of broccoli florets over brown rice. The whole bowl delivers 31g of protein and 11g of fiber.
Golden, thick, and tangy from the pineapple softening into the coconut milk. This stew looks and smells like it took an hour. It took twenty minutes.
Beef strips seared with fresh chili, then simmered with turmeric, cumin, curry powder, frozen pineapple, and a generous pile of broccoli florets over brown rice. The whole bowl delivers 31g of protein and 11g of fiber.
Ingredients
- pineapple chunks (frozen) 2.5 ounce
- brown rice 3 ounces
- chili pepper 0.5 piece
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- beef strips 3 ounces
- curry powder 0.5 teaspoon
- ground cumin 0.5 teaspoon
- turmeric 0.5 teaspoon
- coconut milk 1.5 fluid ounce
- broccoli florets (frozen) 8 ounces
Method
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Let the pineapple chunks thaw slightly.
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Prepare the rice according to the package instructions.
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Slice the red chili open, remove the seeds and finely chop it.
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Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and cook the beef strips with the chili pepper for 2 minutes. Add the curry powder, cumin powder, turmeric, coconut milk, pineapple chunks and broccoli florets to the meat and stir well. Let it simmer for 15 minutes with the lid slightly askew. Add a splash of water if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Serve the beef stew with rice.
A squeeze of fresh lime juice stirred in right before serving sharpens the coconut-turmeric sauce and lifts the pineapple sweetness.
The half teaspoon of turmeric in this stew is doing more than coloring the sauce. A 2019 crossover trial found that turmeric powder eaten in a fat-containing meal produced 44 times more absorbable curcumin in the bloodstream than turmeric powder eaten on its own. The coconut milk in this stew provides that fat carrier.
Nasef et al. 2019 — randomized crossover trial · DOIBehind this recipe
Can I use fresh pineapple instead of frozen?
Yes. Fresh pineapple works the same way in the stew. Frozen is convenient because it thaws directly into the simmering sauce, but fresh chunks cut to roughly the same size will do the job. The macros stay the same either way.
Why does the recipe call for frozen broccoli?
Frozen broccoli is blanched before freezing, which destroys the myrosinase enzyme needed to convert glucosinolates into sulforaphane (Dosz & Jeffery, 2013). That means frozen broccoli delivers fiber and vitamins but misses one layer of its raw potential. For this stew, the tradeoff is speed: frozen florets go straight into the pan without chopping or washing.
Can I make this with chicken instead of beef?
Chicken thigh strips work well and hold up in the 15-minute simmer better than breast. The macros will shift: chicken breast is leaner, so you lose some fat and gain a bit of protein per serving. Chicken thigh keeps the fat content closer to the original.
