Traditional Vegetable Stew /Ishtu

Vegetable stew aka Ishtu,a traditional Keralite preparation can be served along with appams or Idiappams.It has a mild tantalizing taste and heavenly aroma , what to say more…you’re gonna love it…

Vegetable Stew

The recipe follows…

Ingredients :-

Potatoes – 3 big sized
Carrot – 1

Big Onions sliced thinly – 3
Ginger sliced thinly – 2 tsp
Garlic sliced thinly – 2 cloves
Green chillies slit – 5-6 (or use according to your spice level)
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Cinnamon sticks(Karuvapatta)- 2
Cardamoms (Elakaka)-4
Star Anise (Nakshatrapoo or Thakkolam)-2
Bayleaves (Karuva Ila)-2
Cloves(Grambu) – 4

Thin coconut milk (Randaam pal)- 2 cups
Thick coconut milk (Onnam pal) – 1/2 cup

Coconut Oil – as needed
Salt – to taste

Method :-

Cut the potatoes and carrots into half and pressure cook it for 2 whistles.When its warm enough,peel off the skin and carefully crumble it with your hands to medium size pieces.Keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan on medium heat ,when it is hot add all the spices into it.Fry it for a while and add the onions,green chillies, ginger, garlic and 1 sprig of curry leaves and saute until onion turn transparent.Then add the crumbled potato and carrot pieces into it.Mix well and add thin coconut milk and salt into it.Cover the lid and cook in a low heat for 10- 20 minutes stirring occasionally.Now pour thick coconut milk into it,mix again and let it come to a slow boil.Simmer it for 2-3 minutes,add the rest of the curry leaves and turn off the heat.Close the lid and let it stand for 5- 10 minutes.Serve hot with Appam,Idiappam,Puttu,Iddli or plain bread.

(Note :- You can add other vegeatables like cauliflower,french beans or green beans as needed.Just cook them and add along with crumbled potato and carrot pieces.

What if you don’t want to use coconut milk in your stew ?

Substitute coconut milk with :

• 1 and 1/2 cups plain whole milk + 1 cup water
• 2 tsp cornflour mix in 2 -3 cups of warm water

Checkout these too :

• Lady Birds Chicken Stew
• Simi’s Chicken Stew
• Mallugirl’s Chicken Stew
• Maria’s Mutton Stew
• Grihini’s Mixed Vegetable Stew
• Saffron Trail’s Mixed Vegetable Stew
• My Vegetable Stew