Slow Cooked Chinese Beef Stew & Crispy Kale

Another meal that you can just stick in the slow cooker! You coudl also do this in the oven, for around 2 hours. The meat comes out so meltingly soft, and the chinese flavours are delicious. Makes a great change from the usual slow cooker stew. I served ours with vermicelli noodles and crispy kale (tastes quite like crispy seaweed).

750g braising beef
1 bunch spring onions , sliced
3 garlic cloves , sliced
Half red pepper, sliced
10 button mushrooms, sliced
an inch of root ginger , grated
2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 star anise
4 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
2 tbsp soy sauce

Place everything in the slow cooker, and cook for around 6 hours. No need to brown the meat first!

Crispy kale -

Half a bag of shredded kale
Olive oil
Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200c.  Coat the kale lightly in olive oil and spread out on a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes, until it is just starting to go golden at the edges.