Beef Stroganoff from Russia

Nobody is a hundred percent sure who invented this dish, but what we do know is that it came out of Russia in the 1800's and spread all over the world.  There are many variations of Beef Stroganoff. Some people leave out the wine, others leave out the mushrooms but nobody leaves out the sour cream.  I happen to like it with wine and mushrooms.  This is simple to make and best served with pasta, although you can serve it with rice.

4 tablespoons butter
1 kg beef cut into thin strips
1 onion finely sliced
2 cloves garlic finally chopped
4 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon English mustard
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup water
1 beef stock cube
1 punnet button mushrooms thinly sliced
1/2 cup sour cream
Melt the butter in a pot and add the beef strips.  Brown the beef strips and add in the onions and garlic.  Let it all saute for about 3-5 minutes.  Stir in the flour, salt and black pepper and make sure that the beef strips are evenly coated with the flour.  Add the sliced mushrooms and the English mustard.  Pour in the water and drop in the stock cube.  Stir well and reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add the white wine and simmer for a further 20 minutes until the beef strips are tender and the sauce has thickened.  Stir in the sour cream and let it simmer for another minute or two before serving.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently living and working in Kyiv in Ukraine. She is the author of Hush Baby, Defective, C U@ 8, Not Telling and The Case of Billy B. All her books are available on Amazon in both print and Kindle format. http://cindyvine.com

Cawl and Dumplings from Wales

Cawl is a meaty broth loaded with veggies in season.  You can use lamb or beef, and as this is perfect for the slow cooker, the cheaper cuts of meat are fine.  You can make it the day before as the flavours improve over time.  For those operating on a tight budget, this dish is relatively cheap to make.  This recipe can be adapted to whatever vegetables you can lay your hands on.  Traditionally, the Welsh farmers would drink the broth and then eat the meat and vegetables.  If you don't want to be bothered with the dumplings you can serve it with slices of fresh bread.

500g beef or lamb cuts into cubes
10 cups water
2 large onions cut into quarters
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 bay leaf or 1 teaspoon ground bay leaf
2 stock cubes
6 potatoes cut into quarters (skin optional)
2 carrots cut into thick slices
2 leeks thinly sliced
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups roughly chopped veg (parsnips, swedes, green beans, etc)
4 rashers bacon cut into blocks
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
Dumplings
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon margarine
1/2 cup luke-warm water
To make the cawl, put the water in a large pot together with the meat cubes, onions, salt, pepper, bay leaves and stock cubes.  Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for 2 hours until the meat can be broken apart with a fork.  Add in the potatoes and other vegetables and let it simmer for 30 minutes.  In a pan fry the bacon and add that to the stew.  Add the parsley and thyme and the dumplings and let it simmer with a lid on for another 30 minutes.  To make the dumplings, rub the margarine into the flour, salt and baking powder with your fingers until you have a mixture resembling bread crumbs.  Add the water a little at a time, stirring it in with a spoon.  You'll have a soft dough.  Drop spoonfuls of the dumpling dough onto the top of your stew.  By putting the lid on your pot you are enabling the dumplings to be steamed.  You'll need a soup ladle to serve this tasty stew in bowls.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently living and working in Kyiv in Ukraine. She is the author of Hush Baby, Defective, C U @ 8, Not Telling and The Case of Billy B. All her books are available on Amazon in both print and Kindle format. http://cindyvine.com

Nyama Stew from Tanzania

Nyama is the Kiswahili word for meat.  This easy to make delicious stew will have your mouth watering as the sensational cooking smells seep up your nostrils. It is so tasty you might want to double up as everybody will want seconds!

2 tablespoons cooking oil

500g beef cut into cubes

1 large onion cut into rings

6 tomatoes finely chopped

1 cup coconut milk

1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaves

1 chilli finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a pot.  Brown the beef and the onion rings.  Throw in the rest of the ingredients and leave to simmer for about 45 minutes on a low heat until the meat is cooked and falling apart.  That is all there is to do, seriously easy.  Serve with a hefty spoonful of mataha, ugali (both Tanzanian classics) or rice.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently working in Ukraine.  She is the author of Hush Baby, Defective and Not Telling.  All her books are available on Amazon in both Kindle and print format.