One Pot Lamb Stew

All Kinds Of Stews In Hawaii

We eat local style beef stew over rice, chicken adobo over rice, and shoyu chicken over rice. We even devour chili over rice! I never heard of eating chili with cornbread or chili like a soup until I moved to NYC for college...to this day, I still think it's odd to not eat chili with rice ^_^

In Hawaii, we get super good local boar, axis deer, and lamb...just to mention a few! Lamb stew is one of the many kinds of stews we make. You can buy lamb at most markets here (even Costco Hawaii has lamb), and at meat shops and butchers in Hawaii (super neat how we're getting more meat places that specialize in local meats).

All you need is: garlic, lamb, chili flakes, and canned tomatoes

Why This Lamb Stew?

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Because it's so easy. It requires only one pot and four ingredients:

• Garlic
• Lamb stew meat
• Red pepper flakes
• Canned whole peeled tomatoes*

Aside from the lamb itself, we always have the other three ingredients in our home pantry.

*The canned whole peeled tomatoes also come in handy for this beef stew recipe.

This lamb stew is also simple to prepare (more on that below), but it sounds fancy. Every time I make it for my husband or parents, everyone is like ooooh we're having lamb! I am a big fan of dishes that sound fancy or complex, but are actually really easy heheh.

Lamb shoulder / lamb stew meat

Which Part Of The Lamb?

This recipe calls for lamb stew meat. It's sold at the market/butcher labeled as, "lamb stew meat" or as "lamb shoulder."

If the option is available, I ask the butcher to cut the lamb into 1-inch chunks (saves me from doing additional work at home). But you can also buy a 2-pound boneless lamb shoulder piece and cut it into smaller chunks yourself.

Make sure to add the garlic halfway through the lamb browning process.

Lamb Stew Method

The "official" recipe is at the bottom of this post, but I always like to include this method part which explains the recipe in more detail.

You have all your ingredients? Good! Ok, add some olive oil in a big pot. Turn the stove to medium heat. When the olive oil is warm, add the lamb chunks (which you've already seasoned with salt and pepper) and brown them on all sides. Make sure you brown ALL sides of the lamb. This whole browning process takes about 10 minutes. You might have to brown in two batches depending how big your pot is. When it's halfway done browning, add the smashed garlic and let the garlic brown as well. Careful you don't burn the garlic! The reason we add garlic in the middle (and not in the beginning with the lamb) is because the garlic will finish browning before the lamb. Adding garlic in halfway through ensures both the garlic and lamb finish browning at the same time.

Then you sprinkle in red pepper flakes. And pour in the can of whole peeled tomatoes along with ½ cup of water. Bring everything to a boil, then turn the stove to low heat. Give everything a good stir around and put the lid on the pot. Let simmer for 1-hour.

After the hour is up, take off the lid, stir around a bit more. Smash up any tomatoes that haven't completely broken down yet (use a wooden stirring spoon to do this). Turn the heat up to medium and let it cook another 30-45 minutes. The whole point of cooking on slightly higher heat without the lid on is to reduce the sauce. You want to keep cooking till the sauce gets thick and gravy-esque. Once the stew reaches the preferred texture/thickness, turn off the stove, season with more salt and pepper until it's to your liking. Spoon the lamb stew over a bowl of rice, and enjoy!