Spicy beef hotpot with roasted squash

In this fantastic one-pot dish, I'm serving a wonderful beef shin hotpot recipe. This dish is full of flavour thanks to the slow-cooked beef shin, spicy chorizo, and chickpeas, and it's great to make in large quantities and freeze for later – this recipe serves four people twice over. To add sweetness to the dish, roasted squash wedges are served on the side.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 1 green pepper, seeded and finely chopped

• 1 yellow pepper, seeded and finely chopped

• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 1.5kg beef shin, boned, trimmed and cut into small cubes

• 50ml of rapeseed oil

• 300g of cooking chorizo, cut into slices

• 2 tbsp of plain flour

• 1 tbsp of sweet smoked paprika

• 1 tbsp of ground cumin

• 1 tbsp of black treacle

• 1 tbsp of tomato purée

• 1 dried ancho chilli, soaked in hot water

• 500ml of beef stock

• 400g of tinned chopped tomatoes, (1 tin)

• 400g of chickpeas, (1 tin)

• salt

• pepper

• 1 large squash, seeded and cut into thin wedges with skin left on

• 100ml of sour cream

• 25g of pumpkin seeds

• 1 bunch of coriander, small, roughly chopped

Method

1. To begin, heat half of the rapeseed oil in a casserole dish or stockpot on the stove over medium heat. Stir in the finely chopped onion, peppers, and garlic until the oil has warmed up. Reduce the temperature.

2. Cook slowly for about 15–20 minutes until everything is soft and sweet, then remove from the heat and scrape into a bowl. Give the casserole a quick wipe with some kitchen towel to ensure no bits are left to catch

3. After that, combine the beef shin chunks with the flour, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl and toss to cover the meat evenly. Return the casserole to a medium-high flame, add the remaining oil, and brown the shin in batches, raising them onto a plate when finished.

4. Since the bottom of your casserole will most likely be crusted with meaty bits and pieces, deglaze it with a good splash of water and scrape and lift it up with a metal spoon. Over the meat, pour the thickened liquid.

5. Add the chorizo slices into the casserole, stirring as they begin to sizzle and release some of their own oil. After a couple of minutes, place the beef back into the pot, along with the softened vegetables, and mix together

6. Add the paprika and cumin and stir to coat, then after another 2 minutes add the tomatoes, beef stock, black treacle and ancho chilli. Taste for seasoning

7. Bring to a boil, then cover with a lid that is slightly ajar to allow steam to escape and the sauce to thicken slowly.

8. Cook for another 2 hours, or until the beef is very tender, after adding the chickpea tin to the hotpot. Return to stir occasionally during the cooking process.

9. For the squash, preheat the oven to 200°C

10. Drizzle the oil over the squash wedges on a baking tray, mixing them together to ensure they are uniformly coated. Season with salt and pepper before placing in the oven for 40-45 minutes, turning halfway through.

To serve, divide the rice between plates then add a generous helping of the beef shin hotpot. Arrange some of the roast squash wedges on the side and top the meat with some sour cream, a scattering of pumpkin seeds and some chopped coriander