vegetable stew

by Dassana Amit | 58 Comments
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vegetable stew recipe with step by step photos. this veg stew is easy to make lightly spiced, delicate and aromatic stew made with mixed vegetables, coconut milk and spices. a popular stew from the kerala cuisine. gluten-free and vegan.

on some days when i don’t make dosa, i end up making our favorite breakfast appam and kerala style vegetable stew.

vegetable stew

usually i always have carrots, beans, potatoes and peas at home. so these veggies end up being in the veg stew. when i have to make the stew, i prepare coconut milk a day before and keep in the fridge. sometimes to make things easy, i use dabur’s coconut milk which is easily available in india. dabur’s coconut milk works well as a substitute for thick coconut milk. you can also use any other good brand of ready coconut milk as a substitute for thick coconut milk.

kerala vegetable stew is so easy to prepare. you just need to temper and cook the veggies. if you cannot have it with appams, then just serve the stew with steamed rice. i have used thin coconut milk to cook the vegetables. if you don’t have thin coconut milk, then cook the vegetables in water instead. you can also check this potato stew recipe.

the veg stew is flavored with warm aromatic spices tempered in coconut oil. what you get are tender cooked vegetables in a delicate, spiced, light, aromatic stew with the flavor and taste of the coconut milk.

how to make vegetable stew

1. heat coconut oil. add the whole & crushed spices – cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and black pepper. fry them till fragrant. then add the ginger, garlic, green chilies, sliced onions and curry leaves. saute till the onions become translucent. don’t brown the onions.

fry spices for veg stew recipe

2. add the chopped veggies and stir well.

3. add thin coconut milk or water. cover the pan and cook the veggies.

add coconut milk to veggies

4. the veggies should be cooked till they are tender and done.

making kerala veg stew recipe

5. add the thick coconut milk. stir well and simmer for just half a minute.

veg stew recipe

6. serve kerala vegetable stew with appams or steamed rice.

kerala vegetable stew recipe

more curry recipes

STEP BY STEP PHOTOS ABOVEmany of my recipes have step by step photos and useful tips to help you make it easily and perfectly.
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Vegetable Stew

4.8 from 15 votes
this kerala style vegetable stew is easy to make lightly spiced, delicate and aromatic stew made with mixed vegetables, coconut milk and spices. a popular stew from the kerala cuisine.
vegetable stew
Author:Dassana Amit
Prep Time:10 mins
Cook Time:30 mins
Total Time:40 mins
Course:main course
Cuisine:kerala
Servings (change the number to scale):3 to 4
(1 CUP = 250 ML)

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 small to medium sized carrots, peeled chopped
  • 2 potatoes OR 1 large potato OR about 150 grams potato, peeled and chopped
  • ¾ or 1 cup peas
  • 70 to 80 grams french beans
  • 1 large onion OR 5-6 shallots - thinly sliced
  • 3 to 4 garlic - crushed into a paste in a mortar-pestle
  • 1 inch ginger, julienned
  • 2 to 3 green chilies, slit
  • 1.5 inch cinnamon (dalchini)
  • 4 to 5 cloves - crushed or kept whole
  • 1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
  • 3 to 4 green cardamoms - crushed or kept whole (optional)
  • 2.5 cups thin coconut milk or water * check notes for pressure cooking the veggies with water
  • 1 cup thick coconut milk
  • 12 to 15 curry leaves
  • 2 to 3 tablespoon coconut oil
  • salt as required
  • sugar as required (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

  • heat coconut oil. add the whole & crushed spices - cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, black pepper. saute them till fragrant.
  • then add the ginger, garlic, green chilies, sliced onions and curry leaves. saute till the onions become translucent. don't brown the onions.
  • add the chopped veggies and stir well.
  • add thin coconut milk or water. cover the pan and cook the veggies.
  • the veggies should be cooked till they are tender and done.
  • lastly add the thick coconut milk. stir well and simmer for just half a minute.
  • if you want, you can also heat a few teaspoons of oil and fry curry leaves in it till crisp. then add this curry leaves tempering from the top before serving the veg stew.
  • serve kerala style vegetable stew with appams or steamed rice.

NOTES

* if using water instead of thin coconut milk, you can use the pressure cooker for cooking the veggies. just add 2 cups water and pressure cook for 2 to 3 whistles.
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Dassana Amit

Dassana Amitnamaste and welcome to vegrecipesofindia.com which i started in feb 2009 and is a pure vegetarian blog. i have been passionate about cooking from childhood and began to cook from the age of 10. later having enrolled in a home science degree greatly enhanced my cooking & baking skills and took it to a different level which i now share as foolproof recipes. i was formally trained both in mainstream indian as well as international cuisines.

About Dassana Amit

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58 comments/reviews

  1. I didn’t have peas …so I added raw banana. Did the tempering at the end .and served with plain paratha. It was awesome.5 stars

    • thanks gitanjali for this lovely feedback and for the rating too on veg stew recipe. glad to know. peas can be skipped if you don’t have them. vegetables of one’s choice can be added. thanks again.

  2. Made this today and my ,my taste buds qent to a full 10. The smell reminded me of my childhood with my Chitti. Thank you.5 stars

  3. Hi,
    I was looking for an authentic Kerala stew recipe and my god this just hit the spot. I have a cafe in Melbourne and wanted to try out something to surprise my customers and this should do it. 5 starts to you my friend.
    Thanks
    Hey and also great work on working on so many recipes.
    Cheers Nathan.5 stars

  4. Dear Dasanna, this is an excellent recipe. It came out very well. I’m impressed considering that you’re not natively a Keralite. Thanks and cheers!5 stars

    • Welcome Kartik. Glad to get a positive feedback from a Keralite. My father is from Kerala. So I am used to having kerala food while growing up. I am very familiar with the taste.

  5. HI,
    I like your recipes very much.
    Could you please post a recipe to make pizza with wheat atta (not maida) and without yeast and processed cheese.

    My family is against maida, yeast and processed cheese.5 stars

    • mayank, i have shared a no yeast pizza recipe which is made on a tawa. you can also make this pizza recipe in an oven. using the same recipe substitute maida with atta. add more water if required while kneading. the taste of this no yeast pizza made with atta is more like chapatis. if you are fine with it, then you can use this recipe.

      you don’t need to use processed cheese. you can use fresh mozzarella cheese which is not processed or you can use paneer cubes on top of the pizza.

      recipe here – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/tawa-pizza-recipe-no-yeast-pizza/

  6. The recipe tasted perfect and my husband appreciated as well. Many thanks and keep up the good work. Your website has become my Bible for cooking ?5 stars

  9. I have tried many recipes from your site. Today morning, I tried this and came out well. Thanks for the recipes. Keep going.5 stars

  10. Good simple recipe and it turned out amazingly well! Thank u for the recipe! U make everything sound simple, so there’s no hesitation in trying out ur recipes! Keep it going!

  11. Thank you, Dassana!! This curry is as delicious as the curry I had in Kerala 🙂 . I just loved this one. As well as all your other recipes 😉5 stars

  12. Made this and hogged it with appams. My wife came home and said the house smelled like Kovalam. After she ate the first of her 3 bowls she said its moved to the top of her favourites, yes this dish is now in fact her number 1 and ahead of the tiffin sambar! How easily women discard their number ones and move them down their list….tsk, tsk!
    So in summary this was like eating in the Neeramaya Surya Samudra and Leela resorts in Kovalam. The only thing missing from this late morning feast was South Indian coffee, so I’ll get onto that next.
    Dassana please take another congratulatory bow!

  13. Hi
    Thank you Dassana for sharing this light wonderful recipe. ? with all of us. I m planning to make it. Thank you once again for publishing on net .?

  14. I enjoy trying out the recipes that u put up on ur website. They come out really well. The pics help a lot too. Thanks for sharing them.

  16. Hi Dassana,

    Thanks for the appam & veg stew recipes. I shall try them once I can find an appam pan. I’ve loved these appams since young when I lived next door to an Indian family. The lady of the home was such a lovely woman who allowed me, as a kid then, to just stand and watch her lovingly grind her ingredients (for all kinds of dishes that she was turning out daily) on the slab of granite with a granite roller that she’d hold with both hands and roll then back and forth!

    For the appam recipe, you mentioned ‘water as required’ when grinding/blending the rices and milk…how much of water?

    Thank you.

    Kind regards,

    Christine4 stars

    • thanks for sharing this christine. the appam batter is slightly thinner than dosa batter. so water has to be added accordingly so that you get a medium consistency flowing batter.

  17. Dear Dassana,

    Greetings and congrats..

    Let me make a suggestion as a Keralite…

    Finally, you have to saute onion, abundantly and curry leaves too and add to the stew.. A small tip..if your stew is not found thick..(which is a must) you can make a cornflour paste and add to the stew before final saute….Always serve hot.. Its superb with soft bakery bread too.

    Regards

    Beena Koshy

  21. Thanks for the recipe, Dassana…have tried this many times before…but yours was the first time my husband really liked it:)

  22. Since I hv found ur blog im very happy I have tried ur cake recipes they r amazing me and my family all r satisfied & also they r eggless my husband is non vegetarian and he loves cakes. I hv tried ur other recipes also they r equally good. U r doing wonderful job.Thanxxxx a lot.

  23. Thanks. I tried this recipe twice . And it is divine! My new favourite curry. Never knew a vegetarian recipe could taste so good and be so simple to make. Its creamy without calories. DELICIOUS!
    just added crushed peanuts for crunch.5 stars

  24. Good one. Sharing the simplest of simplest and quicker Kerala stew recipe – Just peel potatoes and cut into thin circles. Cut onion into small pieces. Just boil these in a little water along with salt and a little julienned ginger, and crushed black pepper. You can optionally add slit green chillies too, according to taste. When the potatoes are almost cooked, add fresh coconut milk, and bring everything to rolling boil. Finally, put off the stove and drizzle a little coconut oil and add a few curry leaves (no tadka, just adding as it is). This stew goes very well with appams, puttu, chapathis etc. As a variation, additional veggies like carrots, green peas and even paneer could be added.

  25. You could grind soaked rice, coconut grated, coconut water into a fine paste. add cooked rice – half a cup and grind once again. Now add salt, sugar and a pinch of cooking soda.
    Stir well and leave it to ferment overnight.
    before making the appams stir well. check for the consistency, it should not be too thick or too watery.. you should be able to pour into the appachatty and swirl it smoothly.

    this has worked for me.. pls give it a try….. good luck…

  26. The stew looks delicious. We make it almost the same way and I love it with appams, plain dosas and puris.

  27. i loved the spices that u add cinnamon and pepper loved this variations. Some times internet sucks. seriously i faced the same problem. some have managed to come out.

  28. My fav……u have an appam recipe…..? have tried so many times but I did not get the crisp lace around the appam