Cream Stew - Japanese Youshoku Comfort Food - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 cups chicken meat (leftover cooked chicken or turkey) or 1/2 lb boneless chicken breast, cut up in 1 inch chunks
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons oil (to cook uncooked chicken)
1 (10 ounce) bag frozen stew vegetables (or 1 1/2 cups hard vegetables, cut up in 1 inch chunks, potato, carrot, and onion are traditional)
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons rice flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (10 ounce) bag cut green beans or (10 ounce) bag sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation

If starting with uncooked chicken, season with salt and pepper and brown in a 5 quart dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Remove and set aside.
If using uncooked vegetables, saute for about 5 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and hard vegetables only (you don't want to cook broccoli for a long time as it gets sulferous). Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 20 to 30 minutes. Skim fat and residue occasionally if any comes to the top.
Once that is going well, start boiling the water for noodles or make rice.
After the stew has been simmering 10-15 minutes, start making the white sauce. In another saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in flour until it is a smooth paste. Gradually stir in milk. Add 1 cup of hot broth from the stew and stir until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.
While you are waiting for the white sauce to thicken, add the green vegetable to the stew. When the white sauce has thickened up, add it to the stew. (Add noodles to boiling water, if you are making them.) Cover and let simmer 10 more minutes so the entire stew is nicely thickened.
Just before serving, stir in the sour cream.