Vegetable stew is an easy to make lightly spiced, delicate and aromatic stew with mixed vegetables, coconut milk and spices. This stew is a popular stew from the kerala cuisine and is generally served with appam, idiyappam etc. as a side dish. You can add vegetables of your choice to this stew, but I generally prefer vegetables like potatoes and carrots only. I find it easier and quicker to pressure cook the vegetables than cooking them in a pan. I always have ready to use coconut milk available at home for stews or making gravies, which is very convenient.
Ingredients
- 2 medium sized carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
- ¾ or 1 cup peas (optional)
- 8-10 french beans, chopped (optional)
- 1 large onion, sliced as cubes
- 1 inch ginger, chopped
- 2-3 green chillies, slit
- 5 inch cinnamon
- 4-5 cloves
- 1 tsp. crushed black pepper
- 3-4 green cardamoms
- 5 cups thin coconut milk, for pressure cooking the veggies with water
- 1 cup thick coconut milk
- A sprig of curry leaves
- 2-3 tbsps. Coconut oil
- Salt, to taste
- 2 tsps. Mustard seeds
- 2 shallots, chopped
Method
- Heat coconut oil and add the whole & crushed spices – cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, black pepper. Sauté them till fragrant.
- Then add ginger, green chillies and sliced onions. Sauté till the onions become translucent. Do not brown the onions.
- Add the chopped vegetables and stir well.
- Next add thin coconut milk. Cover the pan and cook the vegetables till tender and done.
- Lastly add the thick coconut milk. Stir well and simmer for just half a minute.
- If you want, you can also heat a few teaspoons of oil, splutter mustard seeds, add chopped shallots and fry curry leaves in it till crisp. Add this curry leaves and shallots tempering before serving the vegetable stew.
- Serve vegetable stew with appams or steamed rice.