hearty slow-cooker beef stew

This is my mother-in-law's recipe. It's from a slow-cooker premix, but my mom-in-law  made it taste much better. All her sons know how to cook this dish. It saves you time since all you need to do is put everything in the slow-cooker. It's definitely mommy-friendly (or college student-friendly) dish. Thanks, mom for sharing your recipe!

Ingredients: 

Beef (your type of cut) - 1.5 lbs (cut in 2 inch cube)
McCornick beef stew seasoning mix - 1 pkt
Cornflour - 1 TBS
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cooking oil - 2 TBS
Water - 3 cups

Button mushroom - 1 small can
Carrots - 2 med (cubed)
Celery - 3 stalks (wedges)
Potatoes - 4 med (wedges)
Tomato -1 big (wedges)
Onion - 1 big (wedges)

Get few of these and keep them in the pantry.

Prep:

1. Marinate beef cubes with light soya sauce (2 tsp), pepper and cornflour (1 TBS) for about half hour.

Cook:

1. Heat oil up and stir fry onions lightly.
2. Put in the beef cubes and fry until all sides are brown but not completely cooked.
3. Add in the seasoning mix and water. When water is boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add carrots, celery, potatoes, tomato and button mushrooms. Allow it to cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add salt and thicken the gravy with cornflour (1/2 TBS).
6. Pour the stew into a slow cooker. Turn to 'low' and cook for 5-6 hours. (**see TIPS)

You can put veggies directly in the pot, too.

I only browned the meat in a frying pan

Liquid should come no more than half of the ingredients

Serve:

1. Serve with rice and salad, or with toasted garlic french bread toasts.

TIPS

• If you are running short on time, no worries! Just put on high for 3-4 hours.
• You can also put veggies directly into the slow-cooker and just brown the meat in the frying pan