Kerala Style Vegetable Stew

And I am back after a long 'break' for my exams! I have quite some free time on my hands now till classes start again, so here comes some cooking fun! 

The first time I came across Kerala style vegetable stew was in a food autobiography called Monsoon Diary: A Memoir by Shoba Narayan. I found this recipe very interesting and bookmarked it to make some day. That some day has actually come today, around 3 years later because I had some coconut milk in my refrigerator and did not have the ingredients for the Thai red chilli paste. When I went back to the book, I realised that I did not have all the ingredients for it either. I went to 'Google' for some adjustment ideas and added a bit of my own touch. It turned out quite nice so here I am sharing this recipe.

Kerala Style Vegetable Stew with Steamed Rice

Kerala Style Vegetable Stew

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp ginger paste

15 curry leaves

2 inch cinnamon stick

5 whole black peppercorns

2 green chillies slit lengthwise

2 medium onions finely chopped

50 gms carrot diced into 1/4 inch cubes

50 gms cauliflower, florets separated

50 gms potato diced into 1/4 inch cubes

50 gms red pumpkin diced into 1/4 inch cubes

250 ml coconut milk

Salt to taste

250 ml water

Method

In a deep pan bring the water to a boil for parboiling the vegetables. Lower the flame and add the potatoes and carrots first. After a couple of minutes add the cauliflower and the red pumpkin. Cook with the flame on for about 3 minutes. Turn off the flame and let the vegetables be in the hot water for another 3 minutes. Drain and pour cold water on them. 

In a pan, heat oil. Add the ginger paste, the green chillies, and the curry leaves. When the leaves start to splutter, lower the flame to simmer. Add in the cinnamon stick and the peppercorns and fry in the oil on the low flame for about a 45 seconds to a minute. Keep stirring so that the tempering doesn't burn.

Put the flame back on high and add the chopped onions. Fry till the onions sweat and start turning pinkish. Add in the vegetables and fry them in the pan for about 2 minutes. Cover the pan and cook the vegetables on a low flame for about 2 minutes.

Lastly, lower the flame and pour in the coconut milk and add salt to taste. Cook for about 3 minutes on the low flame till the spices blend in with the coconut milk.

This rich coconut-y piquant stew is best enjoyed with appams, idiyappams, neer dosa or steamed rice.