Cream Stew with Mushrooms is a stew made with chicken broth and “white sauce” with several kinds of mushrooms. Various mushrooms are found all year around at supermarkets in Japan today, but it is still the taste of autumn and winter.
As it gets cooler outside, we want to eat warm and rich food, and Cream Stew with Mushrooms fits the bill. Just like our Cream Stew, a béchamel sauce (we call it white sauce in Japan) is used in the stew to make the dish thick and creamy. Variations of Cream Stew are popular home cooking in Japan that are 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, but this recipe uses different kinds of mushrooms instead of a vegetable mix.
Mushroom season is considered to be autumn usually in Japan. This is the time to eat various “seasonal mushroom” dishes. The mushrooms that are typical for stew are Shiitake, Shimeji, Eringi (trumpet mushroom), Maitake (hen-of-the-woods), and so on, but they may not all be available where you are. Using whatever you have locally is totally fine. All mushrooms are packed with Umami savory flavors, and give the stew a great taste anyway. Mix and match, and find your favorites.
A more difficult question here is what to eat with the stew – rice or bread. Because of the creamy taste and more western style of the dish, many people opt for bread, but Steamed Rice is a great accompaniment too. Just like Curry and Rice, eating with sticky Japanese rice makes this dish more Japanese. That said, either one is very good, and just enjoy this tasty mushroom stew at home!
Cream Stew with Mushrooms
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Ingredients
Instructions
- Cut chicken into bite-size pieces. Slice onion thinly. Cut off the end of Shimeji mushrooms and break apart into small bunches by hand. Cut button mushrooms and Shiitake mushroom into bite-size pieces.
- In a heavy large pot, heat oil at medium heat. Add chicken and cook until browned. Add onion and cook for a few minutes, then add all the mushrooms. Cook for a couple of minutes, and add chicken broth. Cover with a lid, lower the heat to medium low, and cook the stew for 10 minutes.
- In a frying pan (not non-stick), 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 the stew and stir well. Season with salt and pepper. Cook uncovered about 10 minutes until the stew thickens.
- Serve immediately with chopped parsley on top.
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