Southwestern Beef Stew

This is taken from Chef at Home, by Michael Smith. It's a great book. Not a lot of recipes, but I love nearly all of them. This is a favourite.

Ingredients:

veg oil
1 kg stew beef, cut into cubes
4 onions, thinly sliced
1 whole head of garlic bulbs, peeled
2 red peppers, chopped
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
796mL tin whole tomatoes
2 cups red, black or pinto beans
1 cup frozen corn
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Method:
Thoroughly dry beef (dry beef sears better). Pour a decent layer of oil into the bottom of the large heavy pot, and brown the beef over medium-high heat, being careful not to crowd the cubes. Be patient with this step! The brown bits on the bottom are what give the stew its gorgeous, deep flavour. Brown in batches, adding more oil as needed.

Rest the browned beef on a  plate.

Add onions to the empty hot pan and stir well, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom. Continue till the onions are golden brown. Add the red and jalapeno peppers and garlic. Cook a minute. Stir in the chili powder, canned tomatoes, beans and the browned beef.

Stir well and bring to a simmer. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and continue at a low simmer over low heat for an hour or so.  When you are ready to serve, stir in the frozen corn and cilantro.