Brazilian Beef Stroganoff is a delicious comfort food ideal for lazy weekends. It is also a casual meal to serve to friends. It is very simple to make and very tasty.
One of the key ingredients is the Brazilian "creme de leite', which in the US is called 'media crema table cream' by Nestle. You can usually find it in the ethnic food section of the market. If you can't find it you can use heavy cream but the taste will not be the same.
What You Need:
- 1 lb stew meat cut in thin strips (see picture below)
- 2 tablespooons butter
- 1/2 onion chopped, about 1 cup (OK Felipe, skip the onions, but honestly it doesn't really take long to chop an onion)
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 small can mushrooms drained (7 oz)
- 1 can media crema (7.6 fl oz)
FYI: Felipe is my son's name.
Important Preparation:
Cut the meat into thin and short strips. This picture gives you an idea of the size of the strips.
Do not salt the meat previously or the meat will release liquid when you fry it.
What To Do:
Gather your ingredients.
In a medium large or large saucepan melt the butter on medium high heat.
Wait until the butter turns brown but careful not to burn it.
Oops! I almost burnt it :o
Add the meat (unsalted).
Fry the meat stirring occasionally.
I use a big pan so I never need to fry the meat in batches. The meat fits on the surface of my pan without overlapping and this is important otherwise the meat might begin releasing liquid. Conclusion: use a pan with a wide bottom.
Turn the heat back to medium and add the onions.
When the onions get transparent add the tomatoes.
If you are using wine, add the wine before adding the tomatoes and deglaze the pan. To deglaze is to remove all the bits that might have gotten stuck to the pan.
Turn the heat to low, cover the pan and let it cook for about 25 minutes.
Stir occasionally.
Meanwhile set an inviting table.
Add the ketchup, the drained mushrooms and the media crema.
Add salt and pepper to your liking.
If your sauce is too thin you can thicken it by adding 1or 2 tablespoon of flour dissolved in milk. Just enough milk to make a thin paste.
Let it warm up to thicken, stirring constantly.
Serve on top of white rice and top the stroganoff with string potatoes.
You can buy string potatoes in a can in most markets in the US.
Bon Appétit!
FYI:
Beef Stroganoff or Beef Stroganov is originally a Russian dish from the nineteenth century. It consisted of sautéd cubes of beef, sauced with mustard and bouillon, finished with 'smetana' or sour cream. Later tomato sauce was added to the recipe. Crisp potatoes straws is the traditional side for beef stroganoff in Russia.
Beef Stroganoff became very popular around the world and there are many different versions of it. It is a very popular dish in Brazil. Many people use filet mignon in the recipe but I do not think it is really necessary. Chicken and shrimp stroganoff are also popular in Brazil.
updated June 26, 2013
