Cawl (Stew/Broth) is a traditional Welsh recipe. You can make it with pretty much whatever meat and root vegetables you have, but its most traditional to use Lamb, swedes and potatoes. Its really easy, but it does take some time to make.
- 400ish g of Lamb (we used butterflied leg lamb as it was on offer, but scrag or neck cuts are best for cawl)
- 2 x Large onions
- 2 x Parsnips
- 2 x Carrots
- 2 x Leeks
- 4 x chillis
- (I used 2 x red birds eye chillis and 2x red cayenne chillis)
- 400ish grams of potatoes (I used Valor potatoes this time, any kind of 'all-rounder' potato is good.)
- peppercorns
- butter
- 1 x maggi seasoning cube
I used parsnips because we had them in our veg box, but normally you'd use swede and/or turnip instead. You can probably substitute any vaguely related root (they are all Brassicas I think), like Kholrabi or Mooli. I also added chillis, which gives it a nice kick; traditional Cawl wouldn't include these, so leave them out if you want.
- Crusty rolls with butter
- Mature cheddar, sliced
- Salad (leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, whatever)
We ate this Cawl for 2 meals, but we had seconds both times so its probably around 8 servings. Cawl tastes better the day after, but you shouldn't keep it after the third day.
Around 2 hours.
Put in a large saucepan, and add water - I put about half a litre in this time.
NB The water level always needs to cover all the ingredients in cawl, feel free to add more if it ever starts to get low during cooking.
Every so often, skim off the weird gunk that collects on the surface, and throw it away.
- Chop the onions roughly
- Slice parsnips and carrots (or other roots!) into discs. Depending on the veg, you can peel or leave unpeeled to your preference, but I peeled the parsnips and scraped the carrots this time.
- peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters (if they are small potatoes, you can just leave them whole if you want)
- slice the leeks into rings. NB be really careful washing the leeks, they tend to have loads of dirt in the layers - I wash them before and after slicing. Also, if the leek isn't mega fresh and the green bits look a bit battered, throw them away.
- Cut chillis down the middle - you can deseed if you want to reduce heat.
Basically, add all the veg except for the leeks. Bring to the boil, then simmer for at least 30 mins, ideally an hour. You can also add seasoning at this stage - I added around 10 peppercorns and a maggi seasoning cube
Check the taste of the broth, and adjust seasoning to taste. I think i added a little salt here to bring out the flavours, but don't go overboard as the dish shouldn't taste 'salty'.