heenie's food blog

I love to cook beyond borders ( Aha! my new tagline). So many cuisines, ways of cooking, unlimited combos of ingredients… how can one resist that? Even if you don’t have all the ingredients you can substitute with what you like/have and give it a personal touch. When there is alcohol involved, I simply omit it and try to enhance/balance the flavour with something else. Like for this stroganoff instead of red wine I added tomato puree and paprika to add some colour to the dish.

According to the book ” The Art of Russian Cuisine”, it is named after a Russian diplomat, Count Paul Stroganov. It was either him or his chef who developed this dish which had thin strips of beef, thinly sliced onions and mushrooms cooked with stock and finished with sour cream. It was served with thinly sliced and crisp fried potatoes. Nowadays wine has replaced stock and it is serve with pasta or rice.

ingredients:

for parsley pasta

450 gm noodles or spaghetti, regular or gf, boiled

1/4 cup olive oil or use butter

1 tsp minced garlic

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley or 1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp sour cream

for chicken stroganoff:

1/4 cup olive oil ( or any other cooking oil)

500 gm boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut in about 1 inch by 2 inch strips

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground or powder

1 cup thinly sliced onions

1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms ( I used canned button mushrooms)

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp paprika powder

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cups chicken broth ( bouillon cubes are fine too)

2 tsp corn flour

3/4 cups sour cream

method:

For parsley pasta, combine olive oil, garlic, parsley, salt and sour cream in large pot and cook for few seconds on medium flame. Add boiled pasta and mix well. Simmer for a minute and remove from heat.

For stroganoff; In a large, heavy base wok heat 3 tbsp of olive oil and add chicken with salt and pepper. Saute for 4-5 minutes, on medium high flame, until chicken is lightly browned on the outside. With a slotted spoon remove chicken from wok onto a plate and set aside, keeping wok on medium heat. Add remaining 1 tbsp of oil to the wok with onion and mushrooms, stirring often, cook for about 3-4 minutes, until onions are tender. Add tomato puree, paprika powder and 3/4 cup of broth. Turn up the heat to high and cook until the liquid is almost evaporated, about 4-6 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together in a small bowl the Worcestershire sauce, broth and cornstarch until smooth. Add mixture to the wok and bring to boil. Sauce should thicken slightly. Stir in sour cream and sauteed chicken. Cook on low medium until heated through, 3-4 minutes.

Divide pasta among individual plates/bowls and top with stroganoff.

Note: 

No sour cream? No problem. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice to regular cream and use it for stroganoff.