Kerala Mixed Vegetable Stew - Simple yet classy

My favorite kerala dish. The dish looks simple and humble, without much masala and colors in contrast to the vivid sambhar, pulissery and other kerala dishes. The stew has pristine white color..but dont go by the looks.. there is more to it than meets the eye..

Stew is a common accompaniment with appam..but is also popular with porotta and chapati as well. 

Ingredients

Coconut milk- out of one coconut

Potatoes- 2- diced

Onions-2- chopped

Carrots- 1- finely chopped

French beans- 3/4 th cup- chopped

Green chilly- 4 - slit into halves

White pepper powder- 1 teaspoon

Cloves- 3

Cardamon-4 

Cinnamon- a small piece

Curry leaves - a sprig

Salt- as required

Oil- 1 tblspoon

Procedure

    Scrape the coconut and using warm water blend it in a blender until it forms a smooth paste.

Use a strainer or a muslin cloth to filter out the white thick milk. this is the first milk. Now add in a little more water and again squeeze out the milk from the coconut paste. This is second milk. Take a deep bottom pan and heat oil. Stir fry onions in it until they appear 'glassy'. That is they should soften but should not turn brown. Add the cloves, cardamom, pepper and cinnamon. Saute until they start giving off a pleasant aroma. This may take about 2 or 3 minutes. Now add in curry leaves and chillies. Toss them for a few seconds and add the vegetables. Saute them for 1 minute. Now add the second milk and salt and let it boil. Cover and cook on a low flame until the veggies turn soft. This will take around 10 minutes.Once done add the thicker first milk and continue cooking.If you want to have a thicker gravy you could mix cashew paste to the thick milk Dont let it boil or the smoothy texture of the milk will be ruined. Switch off the flame the moment stew starts frothing.Your stew is ready to be served.

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Ash gourd curry

Ash Gourd Curry

Ash Gourd has long been known as a beneficial veggie..its proven as an effective cure for obesity and in treatment of peptic ulcers. A daily dose of ash gourd juice mixed with honey is not only good for obesity but also helps in maintaining the pH of body.
Here i am showing a simple sabzi using ash gourd..its a typical gharelu sabzi which you wont find in restaurant recipes

Ingredients

Ash gourd (petha) diced into medium size cubes- 250 gm

Red beans(Lal lobia)- 1 cup soaked for 2 hours

Onions- finely chopped-1

Tomato-finely chopped-2

Green chilli-chopped-2

Ginger- grated-1 inch piece

Garlic - finely chopped-5-6 pods

Turmeric powder- 1 tspoon

Red chilly powder- 1 tspoon

Coriander (dhania) powder- 2 tspoons

Garam masala- 1 tspoon

Oil- 1 tblespn

salt- as per taste

Procedure

Boil the gourd pieces and beans in pressure cooker upto 2 whistles. 

Heat oil in a pan and  saute ginger garlic and chillies. after about half a minute add onions and saute till they turn translucent. Now add in tomatoes and cook till they get soft and oil starts leaving. Add salt and all the dry masalas and cook for another 1 minute. 

Now add little water and  keep stirring. The veggies would have soaked in all the flavors by now. Now your ash gourd curry is ready. Serve it hot with rotis.