Vegetable Stew Recipe | Kerala Veg Stew for Appam

Kerala style Vegetable stew recipe with step by step photos. Appam with Vegetable stew is a famous Kerala breakfast combo variety which is loved by all.Appams are different from the regular dosa as these are lacy thin at the corners and fluffy in the center and are made in a Appam Chatti(kadai) instead of the tawa and hence the appams turn in the shape of kadai.Appam is served with a white coconut milk based curry with vegetables in it.The stew has mild spice levels and also has slight sweetness from the coconut milk but it is very flavorful and tastes delicious with the fluffy appams.The appams are so porous that they absorb the flavor from the stew beautifully and makes it taste more delicious.

Stew is made up of various vegetables and is cooked in a coconut milk with minimal spices but the process to prepare the stew is quite important otherwise you will not get the stew in white color. Freshly pressed coconut milk is the best choice for the stew but if you are lazy like me you can even use tinned coconut milk.I have used coconut oil in the recipe for the authentic kerala taste but if you do not like you can even use the regular oil in the recipe. Try this delicious kerala delicacy-stew with appam if you have not tried it before.

Check out other breakfast combos here in my blog:

• MLA Pesarattu / Upma Pesarattu
• Matar Kachori with Alu ki Sabzi 
• Methi Poori and Potato Masala
• Poori and Mixed Vegetable Saagu
• Vadappam(Riceflour Poori) and Chintaku Palya
• Bilavalige(Rice Flour Chapati) and Pithikipappu

Here is how to make kerala style vegetable stew with step by step photos:

Vegetable Stew Recipe:

Serves 2 | Author: Prathibha

Prep time: 15 mins | Cooking time: 30 mins | Total time: 45 mins

Cuisine: Kerala | Category: Side dish

Ingredients:

1 small Carrot,peeled and cut into 1" long thin sticks

1 small Potato,peeled and cut into 1" long thin sticks

10-12 french Beans,trimmed and cut into 1" pieces

1/4 cup Green peas

1 small Onion,thinly sliced

2-3 Garlic cloves, cut into long strips

1/2" Ginger,peeled and cut into thin strips

2-3 Green chilies,slit

1 pack(200ml) Coconut milk or 1 Coconut,grated

8-10 Curry leaves

Salt,to taste

to temper:

1.5 tbsp Coconut oil

4-5 Cloves

1" Cinnamon

4 green Cardamoms

8-10 Black peppercorns

Method:

• If you are using freshly grated coconut to extract coconut milk add 1/2 cup warm water to the grated coconut and grind it nicely and strain it to get the thick coconut milk and add 3/4-1 cup warm water to the coconut residue and grind again to get a thin consistency coconut milk.If you are using ready coconut milk empty the contents of the carton to a bowl and add a cup of water to the empty carton and shake it nicely to get thin coconut milk.
• In a kadai/pan heat coconut oil and add cloves,cinnamon,peppercorns and green cardamoms and fry for 10-15 seconds.I forgot to add the peppercorns in the tempering and hence did separately and added later to the curry.

• Add cut ginger,garlic and slit green chilies and fry until the green chilies slightly wilt.Add 5-6 curry leaves and fry for few seconds.

• Add thinly sliced onions and fry until they become translucent,do not let them turn brown.
• Now add all the vegetables(you can add them raw or steamed) and add salt and thin coconut milk and cook until the vegetables are done.

• Now reduce the flame(or remove the pan from the flame) and add thick coconut milk and 3-4 curry leaves and boil it on low-medium flame.
• Adjust the consistency of gravy and seasoning by adding enough water and salt.The consistency should neither be thin or thick.

Serve it with Appam/Dosa.

Notes:

1. You can even add cauliflower along with the other vegetables.
2. Do not brown the onions,spices and vegetables otherwise it will change the color of the stew.
3. Freshly pressed coconut milk tastes best for the recipe but one can use ready one if pressed for time.
4. Coconut oil adds a nice flavor to the stew but if you do not like it you can use regular oil and make it.

Technorati Tags: vegetable stew,kerala style vegetable stew,veg stew,stew for appam,veg stew for appam,side dishes,kerala side dishes

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Potato Kurma Recipe | Aloo Kurma | Side dish for Roti,poori

Potato Kurma recipe with step by step photos.Aloo Korma is a typical south Indian recipe which is a perfect combination with poori and in Andhra it is paired with Ghee rice which tastes absolutely delicious.We usually prepare either Potato masala or Potato kurma or Mixed vegetable kurma or Mixed vegetable Sagu for poori and it goes very well with it.I love the combination of ghee rice and alu korma and for me it is a match made in heaven kind of food. I had this combo for the first time at my close friend's place when I was in school and I instantly fell in love with that combo and from then I always prefered to eat with Ghee rice or Coconut rice instead of poori.

Check out other side dishes for Poori:

• Potato masala 
• Mixed vegetable kurma 
• Mixed vegetable Sagu
• Chana Masala

Here is how to prepare the Potato Kurma recipe with step by step photos:

Potato Kurma | Aloo Kurma Recipe:

Serves 2-3 | Author: Prathibha

Prep time: 15 mins | Cooking time: 25 mins | Total time: 40 mins

Cuisine:Andhra | Category: Side dish

Ingredients:

2 Potatoes,peeled and diced into cubes

1/4 cup fresh/frozen Green peas

1 Onion, sliced

1 small tomato, chopped

10-12 Curry leaves

1.5 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Red chili powder

1/4 tsp Garam masala

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tbsp Coriander leaves,to garnish

Salt, to taste

to temper:

2 tbsp Oil/Ghee

1 tsp Cumin seeds/Shahijeera

1 Bay leaf

2-3 Cloves

1/2" Cinnamon

1-2 Cardamom pods,slightly crushed

to grind:

1/3 cup fresh grated Coconut

4-5 Cashewnuts

1 tbsp Khus Khus( I did not add)

1 tsp Fennel seeds

1/2" Ginger

2 Garlic pods

2 Green chilies

Method:

• Heat oil in a cooker and add all the ingredients under the section ' to temper' and fry for a couple of minutes.
• Add sliced onions and curry leaves and fry until they turn translucent,then add chopped tomatoes and fry well.

• Now add peeled and cubed potatoes and green peas and fry well for 2 minutes and then add turmeric powder, garam masala, red chili powder, coriander powder and salt and fry the masalas for a minute.

• Meanwhile grind all the ingredients under the section ' to grind' to a fine paste by adding enough water.
• Add the ground paste to the fried potato mixture and continue frying until the masala is nicely fried with no raw smell.

• Now add 1.25 cups of water and let it come to a boil and then close the lid and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

• Once the pressure is dropped remove the lid and add coriander at the end.

Serve it hot with poori/roti/chapathi/Ghee rice/Coconut rice/Jeera rice/Pulao.

Notes:

1. In Andhra style Kurma fennel seeds are not added, but I highly recommend to add it as it gives a nice flavor to the kurma.
2. The addition of green peas is optional but I like to add it.
3. Khus khus is an essential ingredient for south Indian style kurma and also it gives the thickness to the gravy, so do not skip it. I did not add it as it is not available here.
4. The gravy thickens as it sits so add water accordingly.

Technorati Tags: potato kurma recipe, aloo kurma recipe, south indian style potato kurma, potato kurma recipe for poori, side dish for ghee rice, side dish for poori, side dish for rotis, andhra style alu kurma recipe

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Keerai Molagootal Recipe | Palakkad Recipes

Keerai Molagootal is an authentic Palakkad Iyer recipe which is prepared out of spinach,toor dal and coconut mixture. I saw this recipe being posted by many of my tamil friend bloggers all these years but I never thought of making it by myself. Tamil cuisine is a bit unexplored territory for me apart from the usual breakfast recipes.I had mentioned in this post about my helper who had introduced the Chinese chye sum greens to my kitchen, she only has introduced even this dish to us.She had learnt it from her earlier employer who is a Tambram belonging to Palakkad and hence I would say this is an authentic version of the recipe.So, do not get surprised if you see me posting more Tamilnadu recipes in my blog.

I have mentioned many times in my blog that we eat lot of greens in our regular cooking and spinach is one such green which gets featured more.There are lot of options in North Indian cooking but have limited options in south Indian cooking and hence I always end up making spinach dal, spinach sambar and spinach chutney.Repeating the same dishes might be boring and hence a change in recipes is always welcome and this is one such dish which is getting featured now often in my menu.

Check out south Indian green recipes to serve with rice:

• Thotakura(Amaranth leaves) Stir fry
• Dill-Dal Stir Fry/Sabasige Soppu Palya
• Gongura Pulusu Kura, Gongura Pappu
• Thotakura Pesarapappu Podi Kura/Amaranth-Moong dal Curry
• Menthikura Pappu/Methi Dal
• Palakura Pappu / Spinach Dal

Keerai Molagootal Recipe:

Serves 3-4 | Author: Prathibha

Prep time: 10 mins | Cooking time: 30 mins | Total time: 40 mins

Cuisine: Tamilnadu | Category: Side dish for Rice

Ingredients:

1 bunch Spinach/Palak

1/4 cup Toor dal

1/4 cup grated Coconut or 1/3 cup chopped Coconut pieces

2-3 Red chilies

2 tsp Urad dal

3/4 tsp Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

to temper:

2 tsp Coconut Oil/ regular Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Urad dal

1 Red chili,broken

4-5 Curry leaves,optional

Method:

• Clean ,wash and cut the spinach roughly and boil it in water for 3-4 mins and drain it.Pressure cook toor dal and keep it ready.

• Heat 1/2 tsp of oil and add urad dal and red chilies and fry until they turn red in color.Cool them a bit.

• Grind the roasted urad dal and red chilies with grated(chopped) coconut and cumin seeds to a fine paste by adding enough water. 

• Add boiled spinach to the ground coconut mixture and grind it again.

• Add the ground mixture to the pressure cooked dal and add salt and turmeric powder and cook for 4-5 mins until the mixture boils.Adjust the consistency as required.

• Heat coconut oil or regular oil in a small tadka pan and crackle cumin seeds.Add urad dal, red chili and curry leaves and fry until the dal turns red and add it to the cooked mixture.

Serve it hot with steamed plain rice, some dry curry and papad.

Notes:

1. You can avoid grinding the spinach and instead add the finely chopped and boiled spinach and follow the recipe, it will not look green like this.
2. Greens like green Amaranth or red amaranth can be used to prepare this molagootal recipe by following the same recipe and also few vegetables like beans, cabbage or a mix of vegetables.
3. The quantity of spinach should be more and the toor dal should be less in the recipe.
4. Coconut oil is said to give the best flavor in the recipe, but I used regular oil in the recipe.

Technorati Tags: molagootal recipe, keerai molagootal recipe, palakkad iyer recipes, palakkad recipes, southindian side dish, tamilnadu recipes, side dish for rice, spinach recipes, keerai recipes

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