Recipe: Cream Stew with Peas and Potatoes

I peered into our refrigerator this afternoon and saw there weren’t any vegetables left in there. I had already been out to run errands, so I didn’t really want to go out again. I looked into the freezer and saw several bags of frozen peas. So… theme for tonight: peas.

In Japan there is a boxed roux for what is called shi-chu – which I’m sure came from stew. The one I had most recently, which would now be several months ago, was a creamy, white type. Anyway, that idea popped into my mind, and thus I was on a mission to recreate something similar.

I did a quick search for recipes already on the web for something similar but didn’t really find anything where I looked. I was primarily interested in seeing what kind of spices and seasonings were used in other variations. There was one that seemed like a distant cousin and it used oregano and cumin. An interesting combination, I thought, but figured it was worth a try.

After pulling out all the ingredients, here’s what I had…

• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 medium russet potatoes, cooked, peeled, and cut into 1-inch chunks (see note at end)
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, diced medium
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups sliced chunks of vegetarian steak (see note at end)
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups frozen peas

1. In a medium bowl whisk milk, cream, and flour. Set aside.
2. In a large sauté pan (I used a 14-inch pan with 2-inch high sides) heat oil over medium heat. When hot, add onions, salt, pepper, oregano, and red pepper and fry until onions start to become translucent. Add garlic and fry another minute. Add cumin and stir to mix. Add vegetarian steak and continue to fry for another minute or two.
3. Whisk mixture from Step 1 once more and carefully pour into pan. Add potatoes and bouillon cubes. Stir to combine, breaking apart the bouillon. Add more salt if needed (I found the 1 tsp. salt and the salt in the bouillon sufficient). Bring heat to low and gently simmer for 20-30 minutes to combine flavors, stirring occasionally.
4. Add frozen peas, increase heat to medium and cook another 7 to 10 minutes until peas are warmed through, stirring frequently to prevent burning on the bottom.

Note 1: While I prepped everything else, I cooked the potatoes in the microwave oven, using its baked potato settings. By the time I was ready to peel and cut the potatoes, they were cool enough to the touch.

Note 2: I had a can of Worthington vegetarian steaks. I used about six chunks and sliced them into about 1” x 1/8” sizes. I plan to use chicken breasts and mushrooms in a couple of days. For that I plan to brown the sliced chicken breasts first (and then remove and set aside, added back in with the potatoes) before frying the onions. The mushrooms will go in when the vegetarian steaks went in.

I’m not sure how close I came to the pre-made roux that I mentioned earlier, but the result was definitely satisfying and good enough to do again.