Vegetable Stew
After tasting this stew, Simi, my Punjabi friend exclaimed, “this is a revelation to me, a Kerala curry without mustard and not red in colour. This is like a Thai curry!! ” It seems she had tried Kerala food from some restaurants in Mumbai and it all looked and tasted the same with a fiery red colour and mustards floating around. It has happened to me also at times. I’ve gone through some cookery books which supposedly have authentic Kerala recipes and it is anything but a Kerala recipe. Anyways coming back to the stew, she was very much impressed with it that she got the recipe from me immediately and made it the very next day :)
This is a very simple dish, but I like it because of its subtle flavor and of course I love the thick & creamy coconut milk :). This goes very well with appam, but I like it best with puttu, if you havent tried that combo yet, I strongly recommend you give it a try.
Here is the recipe:
- Carrot – 1 (cubed)
Potato – 1 (cubed)
Green Peas – 1/4 -1/2 cup - Onion – 1, sliced finely
Green chilly – 4-5
Ginger & garlic – 1 tbsp each, crushed - Whole black pepper – 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon – 1 piece
Cloves – 3
Cardamom – 3 - Thin coconut milk – 1 1/2 cup
Thick coconut milk – 1/2 – 3/4 cup - Curry leaves
Salt
Coconut oil
Heat oil in a deep bottom pan & splutter the crushed spices. Add the onion, ginger & garlic, curry leaves & green chilly and saute for a few minutes till the onion becomes soft/transparent. Dont make the onions brown. Add the cubed vegetables & combine well. Add thin coconut milk & salt, bring to boil, reduce heat; simmer and cook till vegetables are tender, it will take 10 mins approx. Add thick coconut milk and cook for 5 more minutes & remove from fire. Garnish with curry leaves fried in coconut oil or ghee.
Serve hot with appam, puttu, roti etc;
Notes: If you want to make the gravy very thick, add 1 tbsp of cashew paste. To make cashew paste, soak cashews (around6,7) in hot water for 5-10 mins. Grind it into a smooth paste. Mix the cashew paste with thick coconut milk & add to the curry. It increases the taste and also gives a thick gravy.
Recipe adapted from Kitchens of Kerala by Nimmy Paul
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Lovely Potato stew Maria! Looks creamy thick n delicious! Love this with appam. Never tried having this with Puttu yet. I’ll take ur word and have with puttu next time :)
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There wont be a single mallu who dont like this divine combo of appam-stew..ente fav aanu ithu..never tried with puttu tho..:)
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I completely agree with Varsha! I love appam nd stew… chicken stew aanegil pinne parayenda! Appan thinnunathu ariyathilla! :D Your stew looks very warm nd nice :)
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I love this stew.. but if it doesn’t have to be strictly veg, I go for both meat and veggie pieces.
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Vegetable stew looks so creamy and rich!!
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HI Maria, your recipe came at the right time. i have been wanting to make one for some time now..Did you use fresh cocunut milk? What abt the coconut milk we get in cans or packet? If i use that , what do you think will be the measurements ? Thanks a lot…
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Maria
Reply: on June 10th, 2009 at 11:01 amHi Reena
I use maggi coconut milk powder. For 1 cup of thick coconut milk, I add 3 heaped tablespoon of maggi coconut milk powder to 1 cup of water.
Hope this helps.
Happy cooking :)
Maria
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Hi da ..
love stew ..stew looks rich and delicious ..love the presentation
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For me with aoppoms pleas. Drool drool
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Thanks Pooja & Varsha, you guys should try it with puttu, do let me know if you try it ok :)
Ria & Asha – yes, chicken & beef stew is my fav too, but I dont mind a veg stew once in a while :)
Thanks Parita & veena :)
HC – you are always welcome to Bahrain :)
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Thanks a lot for this recipe…I had some vegetarian guests and I made this stew with appam and they really liked it..hoping to see more recipes like this..Keep up the good work Maria.
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Maria
Reply: on September 5th, 2009 at 11:06 amHi Sumi
Very happy to know that your guests liked the stew :) Thanks a lot for trying out the recipe and letting me know about it :)
Cheers
Maria
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Hello Hi ,
The receipe is an excellent one.But i did like to know ,the above mentioned ingredients is for how many portions.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thaxs & Regards
Lincy sudheer
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Maria
Reply: on November 11th, 2009 at 2:54 pmHi Lincy
Thanks for dropping in.
The above quantity will serve 4-5 people. Hope you’ll like it.
Cheers
Maria
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agree with the others!…stew is always a hit…i made it for some of my north indian friends and they loved it… first they were surprised to see a white looking curry with no masalas n no frying n all :)…. and its just so easy to make!
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hi maria..i am going to muscat very soon..so was havg a doubt wat to do instead of curry leaves..curry leaves wnt be available in gulf countries na..since u r in bahrain u can gve me a suggestion…
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Maria
Reply: on April 3rd, 2010 at 8:04 amHi Tina,
Usually all Kerala items are available in Gulf countries. I’m sure its same in Muscat too. Since there are so many Malayalees in Gulf countries, you will get all Kerala veggies and other stuff like aripodi, puttu podi etc;
You will get fresh curry leaves in Muscat, dont worry about it :)
Cheers
Maria
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Tina
Reply: on April 3rd, 2010 at 10:05 am@Maria, Hi Maria..thank u sooo much for the quick revert..
Happy Easter !!
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Hi. Maria. This is really a superb dish .very very great. good combination for roti. I tried it once and my family luv very much. But i have one doubt that is it gud for the diabetes people? any suggestions?
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Maria
Reply: on May 11th, 2010 at 7:06 amHi Ranjani,
Thanks a lot Ranjani :)
Regarding whether it’s good for diabetes, I dont think it’s harmful. I have seen people with diabetes also having it. However I’m not very sure about it.
Cheers
Maria
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Hey Maria, tried the recipe and came out super. I make stew the same way just that I add garam masala to the end and also include french beans in the recipe. I can truely see what difference fresh ground spices can make to the dish. Love trying your recipes. My hubby a big fan of coconut milk based dishes. I am getting to like them too.
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Maria
Reply: on July 7th, 2010 at 4:37 pmHi Deepti,
Really happy to know that stew came out well for you. Yep, the freshy ground spices do impart a special flavor to the stew :)
I’ve many coconut milk based recipes here, hope you will find those interesting.
Cheers
Maria
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Maria,
I tried this one yesterday…everyone at home loved it…thank u….
regs
sujitha
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Maria
Reply: on August 10th, 2010 at 6:10 pmHi Sujitha,
Vacation kazhinju vannittu full swing cooking aanennu thonnunnu :)
Thanks a ton dear for your feedback & support.
Cheers
Maria
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I stay in US and it is difficult for me to get fresh coconut. If i am using the tinned coconut milk how does it work Maria.
Could you let me know the proportion.
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Maria
Reply: on August 17th, 2010 at 11:00 pmHi Sherin,
I normally use coconut milk powder to make coconut milk, so I’m not very sure about the canned milk one.
However I checked with my cousin who lives in US and she gave me this proportion.
For 1 cup thin coconut milk – 3/4 cup water + 1/4 cup canned coconut milk.
For 1 cup medium thick – 1/2 cup water+ 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
For thick coconut milk – 1/4 cup water + 3/4 cup canned coconut milk.
You can adjust the proportions to suit your taste. Hope this helps…
Cheers
Maria
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Hi Maria, I tried your kerala style veg stew & it was rocking just too tasty. Amazing recipe. I had searched earlier for this recipe as it was so much on my mind, but you have the authentic one . Thanks a ton, you rock!!
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Maria
Reply: on August 28th, 2010 at 5:07 pmHi Rhea,
Thanks a lot for your sweet comment :) Great to hear that you liked the veg stew.
Cheers
Maria
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