Recipe Summary
- Cooking time
- 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield
- 4 servings
- By
- The Lad's Air-Frying Bible
Sequential stages total 115 minutes: brown for 10, covered stew for 80, covered dumplings for 15, then uncovered for 10. Rest for 5 minutes.
Practical note: Keep the dish tightly covered for the slow stage and check the barley before adding the dumplings, topping up with boiling water if needed.
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You’ll Need
For the Beef Pots
700g beef shin, cut into 2cm pieces
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp plain flour
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, cut into small chunks
1 small swede, cut into small chunks
80g pearl barley, rinsed
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
650ml hot beef stock
Sea salt and black pepper
For the Dumplings
120g self-raising flour
60g shredded beef or vegetable suet
1 tbsp chopped parsley
5-6 tbsp cold water
Optional but dangerous
Steamed greens
Extra mustard
Thick slices of bread
Equipment
One 1.8-litre deep heatproof dish, or four 450ml pots, plus foil
Method
- Preheat your air fryer to 200°C.
- Toss the beef with the oil, flour, a good pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper.
- Air fry the beef in the uncovered dish for 10 minutes, stirring once, until the edges colour.
- Stir in the onion, carrots, swede, barley, tomato puree, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and hot stock.
- Cover the dish tightly with foil, reduce the air fryer to 160°C and cook for 80 minutes, stirring after 45 minutes.
- Mix the flour, suet and parsley, then add just enough cold water to make a soft dough. Shape eight small dumplings.
- Stir the stew, add a splash of boiling water if the barley has drunk it dry, then sit the dumplings on top.
- Cover and air fry at 180°C for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and cook at 190°C for 10 minutes until the dumplings are browned.
- Check the beef is piping hot and spoon-tender before resting the pots for 5 minutes.