Healthy and Simple Potato Stew
I love Kerala style potato stew for its simple flavors. The fluffy appams paired with the aromatic stew is a match made in heaven. While the appams may be a tad difficult to make (at least for me!), the stew is an extremely easy recipe to recreate.
Usually the stew can be made either as a vegetarian dish or as a chicken dish. The vegetarian stew is an amazing concoction of fresh colourful vegetables simmered in a flavorful coconut based 'gravy'.
I had zero idea on how to prepare this easy recipe before my marriage. After my marriage, when my mother-in-law realized I loved stew and appam, she would often make it for me. I never asked her for the recipe, because I was so sure it would be way to complicated for me to follow! Duh! So, imagine my surprise when I learnt that the potato stew my MIL often made could be ready in about fifteen minutes with minimal ingredients! There's been no turning back since then.
This potato stew is my husband and my go-to staple on days we are too tired to cook. Fifteen minutes and a hearty meal is ready - we eat this stew with hot white rice!
You can always add vegetables such as carrots and beans to this recipe, but I am more fond of the potato stew. So, here's the recipe:
Potato stew is a staple breakfast dish across Kerala and is frequently eaten with appam which is a fermented rice pancake that mainly consists of rice and coconut. Though you can easily it with roti or rice if that is to your taste. Before you go here are a few fun facts about potatoes:
- Despite it's looks Potato is actually 80% water
- A potato on average has 100 calories
- Potatoes can be used for making alcohol
- There was once a time when they were worth as much as gold
- 1 Potato (Cut in chunks)
- 3 Cloves
- 1 Cinnamon (Small)
- 1 Green Chily (Slit in half)
- 1 Onion (Large, sliced)
- 1 tbsp Ghee
- 1/2 cup Coconut Milk (I use the packet)
- 1/2 tsp Pepper powder
- 1 h Curry Leaves
- 1 Water
- 1 pinch Salt (To taste)
- Instructions
Wash the potato chunks and put them in a pressure cooker along with half of the sliced onions, green chilly, cloves and cinnamon.
Add water just about covering the potatoes and add salt according to your taste.
Cook the potatoes till done. In my 5 litre pressure cooker, it takes about four whistles for the potatoes to be done. They do not crumble/break into small pieces.
In a small pan, add ghee and once the ghee is hot, add the remaining onions to it and fry them till golden brown.
Put the pressure cooker with the potatoes back on the gas and add the coconut milk to it, mixing it thoroughly.
Add the fried onions to it along with the pepper powder and curry leaves and let the stew boil for 6-7 minutes.
Done!
This may not be the most authentic Kerala stew but it's flavorful nevertheless!!!! And, super easy to make. With a toddler at home and a full-time job, I need such easy recipes and this one is a life-saver.
So, do try this at home and let me know in the comments below if you liked it :)