Vegetable Stew - Kerala Cusine (Mild coconut based Veg-Stew)

What can I say! My first appam-stew experience was at my friend's (Leena Mohan) place when I was in school. Ever since I have been absolutely bonkers over this delicious, mild, flavorful stew served with crunchy yet soft sweet appams (pan cakes). Infact I can have this stew just like that as my dinner! One of those things I absolutely adore. 

My love affair with appam-stew continued at Coconut Grove (Bangalore, Church Street). The guys at Coconut Grove (CG) always got some extra stew for me since they knew one bowl wasn't sufficient! The appams were always served one after another so that they come steaming hot into your plate. Of course fried fish was an integral part of this combo in CG. The music was relaxing, the tender coconut water was soothing, the fried fish was tongue tickling and the appam stew was comforting. I still love going to CG on any given day! 

Ok, so since CG can't come here, I have there is work cut out for myslef to re-create the appam-stew magic! So I called my sister-in-law Nisha (who is originally from - god's own country – Kerala) to get the authentic stew recipe. Now I know,  a typical staple food made at home can never have a standard recipe (for that matter there is nothing called the real authentic recipe, each one has their own version based on taste and liking). But then, there is always that one little secret which only mom's know! And Nisha had her mom next to her explaining the recipe to me! That's called luck! And trust me, I got that one secret ingredient from her which no recipe (books, online, cookery show) mentions. And that is saunf/ fennel powder. The minute I tasted the stew, I knew it, I had hit the jackpot!! I have made this stew countless number of times, but this time around, the CG taste was in my stew!!! Ah the stew!!

Just realised, I was here to share the recipe! :) Last quick note - check out the nice dinner menu from 'God's Own Country - Kerala'!

You need: 

(serves 2 – I could have eaten it all alone but there were two of us for dinner :) )

Potatoes – 2 medium size (boiled, peeled and roughly cut into cubes)

Pearl white onions – ½ Cup (or cut onions into big chunks)

Carrot – 1 medium (peeled and cut into 1 cm pieces)

Green chilies – 2-3 (slit)

Bay leaf – 1 no. 

Cloves – 3-4

Green cardamom – 3-4

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch

Curry leaves – 7-10 

Saunf powder – 1.5 tsp (must, must, this is the secret ingredient)

Coriander powder – 1 tsp 

Salt – to taste

Coconut oil – 2 tsp  (will be used in parts)

Good quality coconut milk – 14-16 Oz can (I used almost half, you may want to adjust this as per your taste and the quality of the coconut milk)

1. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pressure cooker, add green chilies, bayleaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick. curry leaves and fry for 30 secs. 
2. Now add the saunf and coriander powder. Fry for 15 sec. 
3. Add carrots and pearl onions. Give a stir and add enough water to just cover the vegetables. 
4. On a high flame pressure cook the vegetables for exact 3 min. Whether whistle happens or not, switch off the heat and ease the pressure. You could either run it under cold water or lift the whistle. This is to make sure the vegetables are cooked but still firm. 
5. Transfer all the contents to a sauce pan, add the potatoes and bring to a boil. 
6. After 5 min, add the coconut milk and adjust the salt. Cook for min, drizzle the remaining 1 tsp coconut oil and mix (you can skip this if you don't like the smell of coconut so much but it does make a difference). 
7. Switch off and serve hot with hot appams! 
8. Once the stew cools it thickens a little so adjust the consistency if you plan to cool it a little and eat. But this dish should be eaten steaming hot!

*You can also make appams with hardly any effort. Try the Appam and Mutta-Appam recipe.