Cinnamon Beef

Directions

1. 1
   Cube the beef into large chunks about 1-inch square.
2. 2
   Half fill a plastic bag with flour and then put in the beef cubes and coat well.
3. 3
   Take out the cubes and get rid of the excess flour.
4. 4
   I put them in a sieve and give them a good shake.
5. 5
   Heat the oil in a frying pan.
6. 6
   Sprinkle the meat liberally (and I mean liberally!)
7. 7
   with cinnamon and black pepper.
8. 8
   Fry in batches of about 7 pieces so as not to overcrowd the frying pan.
9. 9
   You need to get them to a good golden brown.
10. 10
    The smell is wonderful so dont be hungry when you cook this!
11. 11
    Remove the meat from the pan but dont throw away the residue in the pan.
12. 12
    Put the fried cubes of meat into a large ovenproof casserole dish.
13. 13
    (Dont stand too close to the frying pan when you do this or the old nasal passages will suffer!)
14. 14
    Heat the residue in the frying pan so it sizzles.
15. 15
    Pour on the red wine vinegar, stand back for a bit.
16. 16
    Add the garlic, bay leaves, cloves and 2 tsp ground cinnamon, a bit of salt and some black pepper.
17. 17
    Simmer for about 5 minutes and then pour over the beef.
18. 18
    Finely chop the onion and put in with the beef.
19. 19
    You can put in whatever vegetables you like for this.
20. 20
    Add enough water to cover the beef and vegetables, sprinkle in about 2 teaspoons of gravy granules.
21. 21
    Put in the oven on a low heat for at least 2 hours.
22. 22
    The meat has to be tender and the potatoes cooked through.
23. 23
    If the potatoes mush a bit dont worry - say it was on purpose to thicken the sauce!
24. 24
    When the beef is cooked, you can thicken the sauce with some cornflour.
25. 25
    I teaspoon of cornflour diluted with about 3 teaspoons of water should be fine.
26. 26
    Serve with rice.