After traveling to Las Vegas for work and making a pit stop in Phoenix, I was immediately greeted back to the PNW with *snow* on the ground?? Small hail? Regardless, it was white and cold. I miss the sun and warmth so I wanted to make something warm and cozy. I saw it on a menu at a Vietnamese restaurant recently and suddenly had a craving. Bo kho is a Vietnamese-style beef stew that can be eaten with rice, noodles, or bread. It’s rich, warm, and super comforting!
Ingredients
Beef – It is a beef stew, so I would recommend using beef, but swap ingredients to your heart’s desire! The chuck roast here gives the broth a really beefy flavor, but you can use other stew meat or beef shank too.
Ketchup – Weird right? It gives the broth a reddish tint, a slight tomato flavor, and some sweetness.
Bo Kho – Vietnamese Beef Stew
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp
- 3 lbs chuck roast cut into 2" cubes
- 1/2 onion sliced
- 6 cloves garlic whole
- 2 tbsp lemongrass minced
- thumb chunk ginger
- 1 tbsp 5 spice
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 8 cups water
- 2 cups carrots chopped
Instructions
- In a heavy pot, add 2 tbsp of olive oil to heat.
- When oil shimmers, add half of the chuck roast, searing on all sides. Do not crowd the pot.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over each piece as it sears.
- After all sides are seared, remove from pot.
- Add another 2 tbsp of olive oil and sear remaining beef and adding salt and pepper.
- Remove all beef from the pot.
- In the pot, add onions, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, and 5 spice to toast and brown.
- After onions start to soften, add ketchup and fish sauce. Mix together.
- When mixture starts to boil, return meat to pot and add brown sugar and water.
- Mix and simmer on low for 2 hours, skimming any foam as necessary.
- For the last 15 minutes, add chopped carrots.
- Serve with rice, noodles, or bread!
After this, have some Pumpkin Walnut Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Spread or Apple Crumb Pie.
How do I make this in my instant pot
Hi Stella! You can do this the exact same in the Instant Pot and it’s even faster! Follow all the same steps of searing your beef and toasting your aromatics. After you put your beef and water back in the pot, pressure cook on high for 30 minutes, but you need to make sure all of the beef is submerged. After, skim any foam from the top, add the carrots and cook for another 15 minutes, but do not pressure seal the pot. Thanks for visiting 🙂