Vegetable stew - Best accompaniment for idiyappam - Step by step

   January month is a quite busy month for me. As my two kids have their birthdays this month, along with pongal . Yes started planning for my son's birthday. That's the reason, I was away from blogging for quite few days. Today, I cannot go without posting anything in my blog. This post was in my draft for quite long. So posting it .

   This is a traditional dish of "Kerala".This stew goes very well with idiyappam or chapathi. It has a mild flavor and spices.The texture is very much important for this dish. Thick coconut milk gives the beautifull texture. So for a day , forget all your diet and indulge in this stew for your heavenly comfort. This is one of the comfort foods, that will brighten your days. I prepared idiyappam for the stew. You can check the recipe for making sofr idiyappams here.

 

Serves                  :   2
Preparation time  : 10 mins
Cooking time       : 25 mins

Ingredients:
1.Onion              -      1/2 ( sliced)
2.Green chillies -       2 (slit)
3.Carrot              -      1
4.Beans               -      4
5.Peas                 -       1/2 cup
6.Potato              -        1
7.Coconut           -        1 cup
8.Corn flour        -        1 tsp
9.Water               -         as needed
10.Salt                 -         as required

For tempering:
1,Oil                   -          1 tbsp.
2.Fennel seeds    -          1 tsp
3.Curry leaves     -          few



Method:
* Cut the carrot and beans finely. I like them to be very small. Peel the potato and chop it finely. Take a pan, add the cut vegetables and add enough water to the pan.  Cook the veges ,till they are 80 % done. Turn off the stove . Don't discard the water. Reserve it for the stew.


* Take another pan, add oil and temper with fennel seeds and curry leaves. We can also add whole garam masalas at this point. But I don't prefer to use lot of masala. Now add the sliced onion and slit green chillies. Sprinkle some salt ,for the onion to cook fast. Saute the onion till it is translucent. Don't brown the onion.

* We can also add few pieces of tomato, but take care not to over cook them , then the colour of the stew will change. If you want to have the stew ,in pure white colour, then don't add tomato.Now dump the cooked vegetables with their water to the pan.

* Take the coconut in a blender and grind it finely, adding little water. Now pour hot water to the coconut paste and take out a thick milk out of it using  a strainer .This is our first milk. Keep it aside. Now grind the residue of the coconut again in the blender and pour hot water to the coconut and take out the milk from it using a stainer. This is our second milk. Now repeat the process, until the coconut becomes dry. Mix all the other stage milk, except for the first coconut milk. Now pour the second milk to the pan and bring it to boil.

* Adjust salt to the stew. Now mix the corn flour, with little water and make it a fine mixture, without any lumps. Add the corn flour mixture to the stew. This will thicken the stew to some extent.

* When the corn flour is cooked, turn off the stove and pour the first coconut milk to the stew. This will prevent the milk from curdling. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with hot chapathi or idiyappam.

Notes:
* Don't add too much corn flour, then the stew will be too thick.
* Add the amount of green chillies according to your taste.
* The potato, has to be cooked immediately, after cutting. If not it will change colour, then the stew will not have that beautifull white colour.
* Don't discard the cooked water, it has the nutrients from the veges.
* Don't brown the onion, as it may change the colour of the stew.
* The first coconut milk will curdle, if we add it , when the stove is on.