Globecooking recipe : Beef Stroganoff with Toasted Buckwheat (Russia)

My final foray into Russian cuisine with this month's Kitchen Trotter box was Beef Stroganoff with Toasted Buckwheat. I've already made stroganoff in the past but used crème fraîche as the main ingredient for the sauce so I was keen to see how this version would turn out. It was actualy very nice and I was impressed to see that it can be made with very litte - just flour, stock, tomato puree and spices mainly. This seems to be a common theme in the Russian recipes I've been trying - making something really rather tasty out of not a lot - so I'll have to look up some more Russian dishes as they're great for making frugal meals with simple store cupboard basics.

This dish required two ingredients from the Kitchen Trotter box - buckwheat, which came in boil-in-the-bag form, and stroganoff spices (a blend of paprika, mustard and dill).

 Beef Stroganoff with Toasted Buckwheat

ingredients :

150g beef per person (I used pork instead as it's what was in the freezer)

butter

25g flour

1 chicken stock cube

30g tomato concentrate

1 onion

1tbsp stroganoff spice

250g toasted buckwheat

Prepare the buckwheat. Cook 250g of buckwheat in 800ml of boiling water for about 20 minutes, until all the water has evaporated. Turn off the heat, add a knob of butter, cover and leave to puff up.

Mix the stock cube into 400ml of boiling water then leave to cool. (I decided to use Knorr's Touch of Taste liquid chicken stock concentrate as it didn't need time to cool.)

Melt 25g of butter in a large saucepan. On a low heat, add 25g of flour, stirring continually, then gradually incorporate the stock.

Add 30g tomato concentrate and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes. Add 1-2tbsp of stroganoff seasoning and cook for 10 minutes. Add a bit more stock if the sauce is too thick.

Slice the onion and gently fry in a little oil or butter, making sure it doesn't go brown. (I decided to add some mushrooms too.) Put to one side.

Chop the meat into cubes and fry in the pan until cooked through.

Add the onions/mushrooms and sauce, mix and cook for a few more minutes.

Sprinkle with extra stroganoff seasoning just before serving. You can add a dash of tabasco too if you want some extra spiciness.

Serve with the buckwheat. I also added a side serving of red cabbage with beetroot (courtesy of Mash Direct) because it sounded like a Russian-style accompaniment.

I should point out that my dish, tasty as it was, looked nothing like the original version on the recipe card !

If you fancy trying some other Russian dishes, how about Horseradish Beetroot Salad or Kissel?

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