Moroccan Spiced Beef with Herb Parmesan Dumplings

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place the flour in a large bowl and add the beef cubes. Roll the beef cubes around in the flour to coat. Pour half of the oil into a large Dutch oven or other oven safe stew pot. Add half the beef cubes into the pot (it’s important not to crowd the beef if you want it to brown instead of boil) and sear on medium high heat for a couple of minutes, rotating the cubes to get the sear on all sides. Remove the beef from the pot onto a plate, add the remaining oil and repeat with the remainder of the beef. When seared, remove all the beef from the pot.

Whisk a fourth of the stock into the pot. Scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the pot and whisk them into the stock. Return the beef to the pot and add the onion, garlic, sugar, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and turmeric. I’ve also made this without the sugar but prefer it with. It won’t taste sweet at all but the sugar helps take the edge off some of the strong spices. Stir in the tomato paste, wine and remaining stock and season with a dash of salt and pepper.

Cover and cook in a 350 F oven for 3 hours. When done, move onto a medium-low flame on the stove top, stir in the beans and leave, uncovered, to reduce slightly while you make the dumplings.

For the dumplings: Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the Parmesan, chives and milk and stir until it comes together into a dough ball.

Scoop the dumplings into the large pot of boiling water (I used a 1 ounce scoop), cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and add them into the beef. Do not overcook them or they will fall apart. Note that, although you can make the dumplings right in the stew pot, I prefer to cook them separately so that the stew does not become cloudy.