Simple Beef Stew Recipe
2 lbs round roast (aka london broil)
1 medium onion
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 lb carrots
1.5 lb red potatoes (when you feel lazy about skinning potatoes since red potatoes' skin is easy to eat)
Seasoning: chicken bouillon, salt, sugar, pepper, garlic powder
For searing: oil
Prep work: Skin and chop up carrots. Wash potatoes and cube them.
Set stove to medium high heat. Add a few tablespoons of oil, enough to coat the pan with.
While pan is heating up, season the slabs of round roast with dashes of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Sear both sides of the slab or slabs of round roast.
While slabs of round roast are searing, chop up onions. When round roast slabs are seared, remove from pan. Add in onions and sprinkle sugar (FS used brown sugar since that was what FS had) to promote caramelization. No need to constantly stir the onions, they caramelize better after the occasional stir to incorporate sugar and meat juices/fats.
Meanwhile, cube slabs of meat with fork and knife (it's hot, so this is FS's strategy to cube it).
If onions look nice and brown, then add in the meat again.
Add in can of condensed tomato soup. Add 1 tbsp. chicken bouillon. Add in carrots and potatoes on top.
This was a trick that FS fell upon while making Vietnamese beef stew at home: if you put the vegetables on top while simmering a stew, then the vegetables hold their shape and essentially are "steamed" while the stew is cooking.
Simmer for half an hour to an hour.
Note: FS likes caramelization i.e. burnt sides of meat. It's tasty to FS. Not everyone likes that. If so, then stirring the stew to dislodge the meat on the bottom or adding more water the stew will be necessary. FS's came out thick, almost gravy like, but FS likes that. If your preference is otherwise - add more water and season to your taste.
