Off late work’s been getting in the way quite a bit. It’s been keeping me from all the things I love. I am not cribbing, I love my job…but too much of a good thing does tend to get a bit much at times! :)
Viv and I moved into this new place (rented of course!) in November and one of the things we both fell in love with was the open kitchen in this apartment. It boasted of storage space galore and quite honestly was the kind of space I always dreamt of having. Viv ofcourse, was overjoyed about the fact that he could at last store his stash of booze in style (an entire section of cupboard + a bar counter!) :)
I love food and love eating good food (who doesn’t!? right?), but constantly eating out does tend to take a toll on ones pocket. Truth be told having grown up in a house where my mum is a brilliant cook, I honestly never felt the need to eat out that much in Chennai(the whole Hmmppfff my mum can cook this dish better! Ideology is deeply ingrained!) until I got married and discovered that “hey! I can make this at home too!!”
All said and done though, every once in a while, you take a break from all the experimenting and soak yourself in some good ol’ comfort food. I tend to do this a lot when Viv travels, mostly ‘cos his idea of simple food and mine ….well while they are similar to an extent, he does tend to draw the line at some of the foods I love …and I don’t blame him. Reason being, I may be a fraud mallu, but at the end of the day I am a mallu and I love my puttu and pazham, appam and stew and olan! Stew and Olan are 2 of my favorite dishes in the world..and I can eat them with anything (dosa, rice and chaps included!) !!
On Sunday, Viv left for Kolkatta and I was at a loose end, mostly because it tends to get a bit boring cooking for just one person but I figured on why waste the opportunity and actually decided to make some stew for myself. It’s one of the first dishes I ever learnt to cook, and I have lost count of the number of times I used to make it when I lived alone in Blore. It’s an authentically mallu dish and so ridiculously simple to make and I have honestly never gotten tired of the flavours till date! Plus it has 2 of my most favorite ingredients in the world – pepper and ginger!
What I have always like about stew is the fact that it’s so incredibly versatile. You can make it with just vegetables, or you can try with chicken or even mutton if you want. Personally I have always loved the vegetarian (especially with whole corn) and mutton versions but the possibilities are quite limitless and that’s one of the reasons I have always adored this dish.
I have improvised the vegetarian version of this dish over time (mostly as I don’t have the much time to spare these days) and it actually manages to get done in a little over 30 minutes these days. The beauty of this dish is that you can use pretty much anything that’s lying in your fridge as long you have your base ingredients in place. Plus, with my new found friend - the pressure cooker, well, life has just a lot more easier!
Ingredients –
- Vegetables of choice (I normally use potatoes, capsicums, French beans and carrots) You can also use some corn kernals and peas, turnip and radish as well if you have them in your fridge.
- Onion (I No) – roughly sliced
- Tomato (1 No) – cut vertically into quarters (this is not necessary – but I like the flavor)
- Chilly (1 No) slit (you can use more if you want it to be more spicy!)
- Ginger (1 inch piece) sliced thinly
- Dry Pepper Corns (1/2 - tbsp)
- Curry leaves (1 sprig)
- Dabur homemade coconut milk (1 tetra pack)
- Water (basis need)
- Salt (to taste)
- Coconut Oil (1 tsp)
Normally when cooking for 1 person, I usually use one of each vegetable (1 potato, 1 capsicum, 1 carrot a couple of french beans etc) You can adjust it accordingly to the number of people you are cooking for. You don’t need to be very concerned with the way you cut the vegetables. I tend to take a very Nigella’ish approach and roughly cut them all up and dunk them into my pressure cooker (the size of the cooker will vary depending on the quantity you intend to cook ofcourse). To the chopped vegetables , I add my onions, ginger and tomato and chilly (I can’t help but breathe in the all the aroma’s at this point – there’s just something so fresh about the way it all smells!). Add the pepper corns and curry leaves and salt and enough water to just about cover the vegetables (try not to submerge them in water). Add about 2 tblspns of coconut milk to this and after giving it a quick stir, put the lid on the pressure cooker and pressure cook for 2 – 3 whistles.
After you take the lid off, continue to simmer and add more coconut milk (I usually used the remainder milk in the tetra pack, but you can stop if you think it’s becoming too “coconutty”) As it continues to boil, start mashing about approximately half of the cooked potatoes, this will help to thicken the stew and let continue to boil for another 5-7 minutes. Adjust the salt if needed and add the coconut oil and serve hot.
I love having this with bread, rice, dosa, chapatti's and appam. One of my friends even likes to have this like a soup of sorts :). So tuck in and enjoy some comfort food at its best! ;)
Viv and I moved into this new place (rented of course!) in November and one of the things we both fell in love with was the open kitchen in this apartment. It boasted of storage space galore and quite honestly was the kind of space I always dreamt of having. Viv ofcourse, was overjoyed about the fact that he could at last store his stash of booze in style (an entire section of cupboard + a bar counter!) :)
I love food and love eating good food (who doesn’t!? right?), but constantly eating out does tend to take a toll on ones pocket. Truth be told having grown up in a house where my mum is a brilliant cook, I honestly never felt the need to eat out that much in Chennai(the whole Hmmppfff my mum can cook this dish better! Ideology is deeply ingrained!) until I got married and discovered that “hey! I can make this at home too!!”
All said and done though, every once in a while, you take a break from all the experimenting and soak yourself in some good ol’ comfort food. I tend to do this a lot when Viv travels, mostly ‘cos his idea of simple food and mine ….well while they are similar to an extent, he does tend to draw the line at some of the foods I love …and I don’t blame him. Reason being, I may be a fraud mallu, but at the end of the day I am a mallu and I love my puttu and pazham, appam and stew and olan! Stew and Olan are 2 of my favorite dishes in the world..and I can eat them with anything (dosa, rice and chaps included!) !!
On Sunday, Viv left for Kolkatta and I was at a loose end, mostly because it tends to get a bit boring cooking for just one person but I figured on why waste the opportunity and actually decided to make some stew for myself. It’s one of the first dishes I ever learnt to cook, and I have lost count of the number of times I used to make it when I lived alone in Blore. It’s an authentically mallu dish and so ridiculously simple to make and I have honestly never gotten tired of the flavours till date! Plus it has 2 of my most favorite ingredients in the world – pepper and ginger!
What I have always like about stew is the fact that it’s so incredibly versatile. You can make it with just vegetables, or you can try with chicken or even mutton if you want. Personally I have always loved the vegetarian (especially with whole corn) and mutton versions but the possibilities are quite limitless and that’s one of the reasons I have always adored this dish.
I have improvised the vegetarian version of this dish over time (mostly as I don’t have the much time to spare these days) and it actually manages to get done in a little over 30 minutes these days. The beauty of this dish is that you can use pretty much anything that’s lying in your fridge as long you have your base ingredients in place. Plus, with my new found friend - the pressure cooker, well, life has just a lot more easier!
Ingredients –
- Vegetables of choice (I normally use potatoes, capsicums, French beans and carrots) You can also use some corn kernals and peas, turnip and radish as well if you have them in your fridge.
- Onion (I No) – roughly sliced
- Tomato (1 No) – cut vertically into quarters (this is not necessary – but I like the flavor)
- Chilly (1 No) slit (you can use more if you want it to be more spicy!)
- Ginger (1 inch piece) sliced thinly
- Dry Pepper Corns (1/2 - tbsp)
- Curry leaves (1 sprig)
- Dabur homemade coconut milk (1 tetra pack)
- Water (basis need)
- Salt (to taste)
- Coconut Oil (1 tsp)
Normally when cooking for 1 person, I usually use one of each vegetable (1 potato, 1 capsicum, 1 carrot a couple of french beans etc) You can adjust it accordingly to the number of people you are cooking for. You don’t need to be very concerned with the way you cut the vegetables. I tend to take a very Nigella’ish approach and roughly cut them all up and dunk them into my pressure cooker (the size of the cooker will vary depending on the quantity you intend to cook ofcourse). To the chopped vegetables , I add my onions, ginger and tomato and chilly (I can’t help but breathe in the all the aroma’s at this point – there’s just something so fresh about the way it all smells!). Add the pepper corns and curry leaves and salt and enough water to just about cover the vegetables (try not to submerge them in water). Add about 2 tblspns of coconut milk to this and after giving it a quick stir, put the lid on the pressure cooker and pressure cook for 2 – 3 whistles.
After you take the lid off, continue to simmer and add more coconut milk (I usually used the remainder milk in the tetra pack, but you can stop if you think it’s becoming too “coconutty”) As it continues to boil, start mashing about approximately half of the cooked potatoes, this will help to thicken the stew and let continue to boil for another 5-7 minutes. Adjust the salt if needed and add the coconut oil and serve hot.
I love having this with bread, rice, dosa, chapatti's and appam. One of my friends even likes to have this like a soup of sorts :). So tuck in and enjoy some comfort food at its best! ;)
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