Vegetable Stew (for Palappam)

Not had palappams for a long  time…..Crispy at the sides  and soft centered….. dipped in creamy, pepper sprinkled Vegetable stew…….a tasty thought….I got up and coaxed my mom and we decided to make palappams for breakfast today…

Aniket my sonny just learned how to walk.He is almost two yrs now. He enjoys his new found  freedom…..he treads the house like a King who walks across his new kingdom. Half of my time goes running behind him all around the house,telling him not to do this-and-not to do that( regardless of the fact he understood or not),listening to his serious babble  or just going mad.I had arranged my  Vegetable stew in a nice little bowl  ready for the clicks for the blog. After I took the snaps I proceeded to the kitchen to finish an urgent chore. While I was busy I could hear Aniket cooing in the background. I walked to where he was standing only to see Aniket standing next to my Vegetable stew ready to dip his hands into its creaminess…I almost dived to where he was standing lest he should send the vessel off balance….I was just in time…to stop his highness from committing the act….and that saved our stomachs too from starving today morning or rather eating palappams alone without the stew….

In kerala this version of stew is made specially with palappams. There is another version  of stew or ``Ishtu” as we call it here served for the sadyas(feast) which is made with just potatoes,ginger,green chilli and onions cooked in coconut milk .But the one I have listed below is usually served with palappams or iddiyappams…

Mom made the palappams and me d stew….and here goes the recipe for the stew….

Ingredients

Carrot-1 cup cubed

Potato-1or 2 cups cubed

Green peas-1/4 cup

Onion-1 thinly sliced

Green Chilly-2/3 sliced or slit

Pepper powder/Whole pepper-1/4 tsp

Cinnamon-1 inch thick

Cardamom-2 or 3

Cloves-2

Ginger-1 inch peice

Thick coconut milk-1/2-3/4 cup

Thin coconut milk-11/2 cup

Curry leaves

Salt

Coconut oil

Method

Boil carrots and potatoes with ginger. Keep aside. Boil water. Put peas in the hot boiling water and boil till it is cooked. Strain and keep aside. Fry cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and pepper in little coconut oil. Add onions. Sauté till translucent. Add green chilli and curry leaves. Add vegetables. Simmer and boil in thin coconut milk 5-10 minutes. Then add thick coconut milk and boil for2-3 minutes.Add salt.Serve warm with the palappams.

Variations

You can boil the sliced onions,cardamom,cloves,cinnamon,pepper,green chilli along with the vegetables and ginger.

You can sauté ginger garlic paste(1tsp each) with the onions in case you are frying the onions and not boiling it with the veggies.

You can boil the veggies in thin coconut milk instead of water.

Garnish with mustard seeds and curry leaves spluttered in little coconut oil.

Add 2 tsps of maida or cornflour to water and add to above to make it thick.

You can  also add ¼ cup beans to the veggies listed above and boil.