Vegetable Stew
Vegetable stew is a Kerala style coconut milk based gravy made with an array of veggies like carrots, beans, cauliflower, peas, onions and potatoes.
Ingredients
- 150 grams Cauliflower
- 150 grams Beans
- 3 Carrots
- ½ cup Fresh Green Peas
- 1 Onion large
- 2 Potatoes
- Grated Coconut from half of a large coconut
- 4 Green Chillies
- 2 sprigs Curry Leaves
- 1 heap tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 2 Bay leaves
- 2 inch Cinnamon
- 3 Green Cardamom pods
- 3 Cloves
- 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Grate the white flesh of half of a large sized coconut.
- Now grind this grated coconut with around ½ cup of hot water in a mixer grinder.
- Now using a coconut milk strainer or a sieve, strain the milk out of the ground mixture. Press hard to squeeze the milk out of the mixture.
- We now have the first extract coconut milk which would be thick. This should be roughly 1 cup of coconut milk. Keep this separate.
- Now transfer the leftover coconut mixture back to the mixer and add another ½ cup hot water and grind again. Strain the mixture as above in a separate container. This is the second extract coconut milk
- Repeat the process one more time to get the third extract coconut milk. You can either keep this separate too or mix with the second extract. In all you should be getting around 2 cups of second and third extract coconut milk together.
- Dice the veggies lengthwise in uniform size as shown in picture. Dice the onions and green chillies lengthwise as well.
- Heat a heavy bottom sauce pan or kadai and add 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Once hot, add all the whole spices and then the green chillies and curry leaves.
- Now on a low flame, add the onions and ginger garlic paste and saute just for 1-2 minutes till the onions start sweating. Do not cook further or brown them.
- Now add all the chopped veggies and green peas and add some salt and sauté on medium flame for couple of minutes.
- Add around ¾ cup of water and cover with a lid and let the veggies cook till they are almost 90% done. This could take roughly 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overcook the veggies.
- Now lower the flame and add the second and third extract coconut milk and keep stirring continuously on low flame for couple of minutes.
- Finally add the first extract coconut milk while the flame is still low and give a quick stir. Do not cook further and turn off the stove.
- Vegetable stew is ready. Serve hot.
Notes
- This stew is generally mildly spiced, however if you want more heat, you could increase the amount of green chillies.
- Do not brown the onions while cooking, it is enough to just sweat them. If the onions are browned, the colour of the stew would not be white.
- While grating the coconut, ensure that you do not grate the brown part from shell, as this could also affect the colour of coconut milk extracted from it.
- Ensure that the veggies are cut uniformly and cooked just right as the stew tastes best when there is still a slight crunch to the veggies.
- Keep the flame low while adding the coconut milk and keep stirring continuously. If coconut milk is boiled or not stirred properly, it might split.
- Add the first extract coconut milk right at the end before turning off the stove. Do not cook further after adding it.