Beef with Spicy Cocoa Gravy

10 Reviews
ADD YOUR REVIEW
Howard L. Puckett
Yield
6 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)
By April Sims, Denton, Texas
January 2007
RECIPE BY Cooking Light

CATEGORY WINNER Entrées. "The unsweetened cocoa gives the broth a rich texture and heartiness. Serve with egg noodles, rice, or couscous." -April Sims, Denton, TX

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 pounds top round steak, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup dry red wine
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced organic fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained (such as Muir Glen)
  • 2 cups fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • Fresh oregano (optional)

Nutritional Information

  • Calories 263
  • Caloriesfromfat 27%
  • Fat 7.8g
  • Satfat 2.2g
  • Monofat 3.8g
  • Polyfat 0.5g
  • Protein 30g
  • Carbohydrate 15.3g
  • Fiber 2.3g
  • Cholesterol 56mg
  • Iron 3.7mg
  • Sodium 731mg
  • Calcium 37mg

How to Make It

Step 1

Combine unsweetened cocoa and next 7 ingredients (through cinnamon) in a large bowl. Add beef; toss to coat. Remove beef from bowl. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Add flour to cocoa mixture; stir with a whisk. Return beef to bowl; toss to coat.

Step 2

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef mixture to pan; sauté 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Add onion and green bell pepper to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add red wine and tomatoes; cook 3 minutes. Stir in beef broth, salt, and black pepper; return meat to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 10 minutes or until beef is tender, stirring occasionally. Garnish each serving with fresh oregano, if desired.

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Ratings & Reviews

Basset_Hound's Review

horrorgroupie
September 25, 2014
The cocoa is an unusual ingredient that really contributes to the flavor. I'll make it again.

Debbie17's Review

NMarie
August 20, 2014
I am sorry to not agree with the other cooks, but my family found this underwhelming. We expected the flavors to pop and be very interesting, but found it to taste very similar to a regular beef stew,

tdschweikart's Review

tdschweikart
August 20, 2013
This was an amazing dish! Wonder flavors. I used chilpotle diced tomatoes (instead of fire roasted) and a crock pot instead of dutch oven. Would recommend everyone to try this dish.

horrorgroupie's Review

Barbara
December 15, 2011
Made this last night. I used stew meat (next time I'll use a more tender cut to go with this decadent tasting entree)...even after forgetting to coat the meat in flour, and having to put the flour directly into the sauce (I used whole wheat by the way), the sauce still cam out amazing and rich tasting. I served it over some whole wheat noodles and, for just the two of us, it was VERY filling. Will have to keep that in mind and maybe half the recipe and serve it with a salad. But still a BIG yummmmm!!!

laureninmtns's Review

Debbie17
May 10, 2010
Mmmmmmhhhh!!! Now that's comfort food! I used different amounts: 1 tablespoon for all spices thru dried oregano, ½ tsp cinnamon, 1-14oz. can beef broth plus ½ can water , ¾ c. ea. of bell peps and onion (used the whole things). Had to sub ground chipotle for the ancho. Other stuff as specified. Stirred in remaining flour and brought to bubble, then reduced heat to about 2.5 out of 10 (Low simmer) and it smelled and tasted sooooo good. If I liked sweet sauces, I would have added brown sugar as suggested but we liked it just like this. It was fast setup, maybe 15 min., then we had wine on the patio while it cooked down. Served with quinoa cooked with veg bouillon and quick finely chopped carrots and a dash of curry. We’ll make this a regular! Sorry, I know I deviated some (we like a lot of spice and it was faster to use just one spoon), but the overall combo worked really well

NMarie's Review

KS395A
January 10, 2010
I really enjoyed this, and I'm not a big beef fan. It takes quite a while to make, but I think it's worth the effort.

platypus's Review

platypus
January 26, 2009
First time I made it, I went by the recipe and simmered covered for 70 minutes or until beef is tender. Believe me, 70 minutes is way too long. We liked the sauce so much that we decided to try it again. When we did, I cut the simmering back to 20 - 30 minutes and it came out great.

ilovemyderricks's Review

ilovemyderricks
August 29, 2012
N/A

KS395A's Review

carolfitz
October 02, 2011
N/A

KimS65's Review

KimS65
January 11, 2011
N/A