Chinese Braised Brisket with Daikon in the Slow Cooker

This is my version of Delicious Chinese Beef Brisket Stew from the @ChineseCookingChannel. This brisket is flavourful and it’s easy to stretch for a crowd with rice and greens as a side.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs beef brisket
• 4-6 1/2″ chunks of peeled ginger root
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
• 1 small onion, rough chopped
• 5 Tbsp cooking oil (I used sunflower oil but any oil that won’t smoke in a wok will do it)
• 3 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine)
• 4 cups boiling water
• 2 whole star anise
• 1 dried orange slice
• 3 Tbsp Chu hou paste
• 1 tsp miso (I used shiro)
• 3 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 cups diakon radish, peeled and cut it big chunks
• 1 tsp sea salt (salt at the end and taste first to make sure it’s not already salty enough)
• 1 Tbsp cornstartch and 1/4 water (slurry)
• 1 zucchini, cut in big chunks
• 1 red pepper, cut in big chunks

Method

1. Cut the brisket in half so it will fit in a bit pot. Bring a pot of water to boil and add the brisket halves. Let boil gently for 10-15 minutes and strain (this removes some of the fat). Run cold water over the beef to stop the cooking process.
2. Cut the brisket into big chunks and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat.
4. Add the ginger and fry until aromatic (couple minutes). Add the onion and the garlic and fry for another minute.
5. Add the beef chunks, increase the heat and toss to brown (4-5 minutes or by eye).
6. Put the wok contents, including the juices, into a slow cooker big enough to hold 6-8 cups of liquid.
7. Deglaze the wok with the Chinese cooking wine, add 4 cups of boiling water to the wok and give it a good stir to get all the fond from the bottom of the wok. Pour the contents over top of the beef in the slow cooker.
8. Add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker, except the diakon radish, zucchini and red pepper (they go in later).
9. Cook covered in the slow cooker on low for 4 hours.
10. Add the diakon, zucchini and red pepper and cook another 2 hours.
11. About 10-15 minutes before completion, add the corn startch and water slurry and give it a good stir.
12. Finish cooking and serve with rice and greens (I did broccolini and broccoli oven roasted with oil, salt and pepper in a 400 F oven for 20 minutes).

This is the kind of dish that will be better the following day and it makes loads so you are in luck!