Cream Stew is a popular home cooking dinner in Japan that is often not cooked from scratch. Like Japanese curry, instant roux in a box is usually used for this dish, but it is easy enough to make a white sauce at home. The warm cream stew with a lot of vegetables is a staple for winter time there.
Cream Stew became popular when the instant roux similar to curry roux came to Japan’s stores in the 60s. The mild flavor of the stew is well accepted by the young and the old. Kids especially like the dish very much, and it became one of the favorite menus at school lunch. Despite the name, it doesn’t actually contain heavy cream but instead uses milk. Even still, its smooth texture and taste are creamy enough to be worth calling it “cream” stew.
If you use store-bought Cream Stew mix, you can skip the steps to make a bechamel sauce (thick white sauce), but it really doesn’t take that much time, with very simple ingredients (butter, flour, and milk), to make from scratch. If you don’t have the mix, just make it at home instead of running to the store. The only “flaw” of homemade roux, which is not really a big deal, is that it doesn’t have as much flavoring added as the instant roux. Instant mixes of course contain a lot of savory flavorings and additives whether you like them or not, and those give the stew more depth. When you make this at home, you may consider using chicken bouillon powder which often also has those same additives to give a more complex taste to the dish. Or, just enjoy the natural flavors of chicken and vegetables without chemicals, and that’s actually what we liked.
We used chicken here, but other meats and seafood like shrimp and oyster work very well too. If you want more variations, use different seasonal vegetables. Radish and spinach are wonderful with the stew. Try it on cold nights – this creamy and hearty stew will warm you up very well.
Cream Stew Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 head broccoli separated into pieces and blanched
- 1 large onion cut into small wedges
- 1 large carrot sliced into 1/2″ thick rounds
- 3-4 medium potatoes cut into 8-12 pieces each
- 1 lb 460 g chicken thighs
- 2 cups 480 ml chicken broth (or 2 cups water and 1 Tbsp chicken bouillon)
- 2 tsp oil
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 2 cups 480 ml milk
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- white pepper
- chopped parsley optional
Instructions
- Separate broccoli into individual flowerets. Blanch or steam for 2 minutes. Set aside.
- Cut vegetables accordingly. Cut chicken into bite size pieces.
- In a large pot, heat chicken broth at medium heat. Meanwhile, sautee chicken with 1 tsp oil in a frying pan for a few minutes. Add chicken to the broth. Heat 1 tsp oil in the same pan used for the chicken (wipe clean), and cook the onion. Add carrot and potatoes to the pan, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the vegetables to the chicken broth, and lower the heat to medium low, cover with a lid, and cook for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
- In a clean pan, melt butter at medium heat, add flour, and cook for a couple of minutes. Gradually add milk whisking constantly so that the sauce doesn’t form lumps. Add the sauce to stew and stir well. Season with salt and pepper. Cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes until the stew thickens.
- Stir in cooked broccoli. Serve with chopped parsley if you like.
