Vegetable stew is a delicious and easy accompaniment that can be had with aapam and idiyappam. It is a dish from Kerala, South India.
It is made by cooking vegetables in coconut milk. The flavor is enhanced by tempering with coconut oil. You can use any vegetables, I wanted to make it really simple and so have used onions, carrot and potato. Was ready really quick and tasty.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
Preparation time – 5 mins Cooking time – 10 mins |
- Onion – 1, sliced thin
- Carrot – 1, cut into cubes
- Potato – 1, cut into cubes
- Coconut milk – 1 cup
- Coconut cream – 3 tbsp
- Water – as needed
- Salt – as needed
- Turmeric powder – a pinch
- Green Chilli – 2, slit
- Bay leaf – 1
- Cinnamon – 1/2 inch
- Cloves – 2
- Curry leaves – 1 sprig
- Coconut oil – 2 tbsp
Steps
- In a pan, add 1.5 tbsp coconut oil, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, green chilli and curry leaves.

- Once it splutters, add green chilli, onion and sauté till transparent.

- Add all the veggies, salt, turmeric powder and mix well.

- Cook for a minute.

- Add thin coconut milk, cook covered till the veggies are done.

- Check for salt and adjust water consistency as required.

- Switch off the flame and add the coconut cream and 0.5 tbsp coconut oil.

Drizzle some more coconut cream and serve the yum-yum vegetable stew with rice / Aapam / Idiyappam.

Key Points
- Add the coconut cream after switching off the flame to prevent curdling.
- You can use thick coconut milk instead of the coconut cream. Thin coconut milk should be used to cook the veggies.
- Tempering with coconut oil is so important so try not to skip it.