Tatar-Style Beef Azu: Beef Stew with Pickles and Potatoes

Name: Tatar-Style Beef Azu: Beef Stew with Pickles and Potatoes
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: Beef 400 g; Salt-brined (fermented) pickles 3-4; Onions 1-2; Carrot 1; Potatoes 500 g; Garlic 4-6 cloves; Tomato 1; Parsley 5-6 sprigs; Butter 50 g; Salt, ground black pepper, chili pepper to taste

I doubt there's anyone who has never done a crossword in their life. I don't know why, but half the crosswords I remember had filler words.

You know, short words of two or three letters that usually serve to link the long, tricky words.

Compilers don't strain themselves and just slot in words like “nose”, “tor”, “woof” and so on. The words are simple and easy to guess, but they're very handy as “hints” for working out the letters in between. One of those words is “azu”.

I used to have no idea what azu was; I thought it was braised beef. From crosswords I knew it was a dish of meat and vegetables. And so it is.

Azu is a stew of meat and vegetables. A traditional dish of Tatar cuisine, it's made from fried pieces of meat, usually beef or lamb, braised with tomatoes, onions, carrots and potatoes. As a rule, with bits of pickled cucumber.

Ideally the stew is cooked over a campfire in a kazan. But in a city apartment you can make this amazing dish every bit as well. It's supposed to be a little spicy, but you can always make it to your own taste.

Ingredients

2 servings

Beef 400 g
Salt-brined (fermented) pickles 3-4
Onions 1-2
Carrot 1
Potatoes 500 g
Garlic 4-6 cloves
Tomato 1
Parsley 5-6 sprigs
Butter 50 g
Salt, ground black pepper, chili pepper to taste

Step-by-step recipe

Wash the beef and remove all bones and membranes. Cut it into long pieces, thick strips up to 1 cm thick.
Roughly the way meat is cut for beef stroganoff, but twice as big.
Fry the beef in a third of the butter until browned, stirring constantly. Don't add salt or spices. The meat will release juices, which will evaporate quickly.
Peel the onion and cut into strips. Add the onion to the meat and keep frying. Note: frying, not braising. It's best not to lower the heat, but to fry, stirring often, until the onion softens. Add chili peppers if you like.
Coarsely grate the carrot or cut it into small pieces and add to the meat. Keep frying until the carrot softens.
Chop the salt-brined or fermented pickles into small pieces, or grate them. Some write that you can use vinegar pickles. I think that's a joke. Nothing replaces a barrel- fermented pickleor one from a home jar, least of all the sour vinegar taste of a store-bought jar.
Add the pickles and the tomato cut into wedges. No need to peel or seed it. If tomatoes are hard to get out of season, add a little tomato paste.
Stir everything, add a little water and braise, covered, over low heat for about 30 minutes. Then mince the garlic very finely and mash it with coarse salt. Add to the vegetables and meat, stir and braise for another 10 minutes.
While the meat and vegetables braise, fry the potatoes. Cut the peeled potatoes into small pieces, cubes or thick sticks. Fry them in the remaining butter until fully cooked. A golden crust is welcome.
Add the fried potatoes to the braised meat and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper, and add a coarsely ground chili pepper to taste. Stir gently and braise for another 10-12 minutes.
Tatar-style azu is ready!
Serve on plates, always sprinkled with finely chopped parsley and, if you like, chili pepper.