Potato Stew

The simplest, easiest, quickest, tastiest….. this potato stew remains as one of the most favourite dishes of Maanas. May be because, it matches his personality so well – “less or least effort…. more comfort”:) The perfect combination of ‘ginger’, ‘black pepper’, ‘curry leaves’ and that one li’l spoon of ‘pure coconut oil’ in the end, it indeed is very flavourful.

Plain rice, rotis, pooris, dosa, or just plain bread (even better toasted) this stew makes any of these combinations so tasty. In our home, it has always been served with “Appam” – a heavenly combination!

We can also add any other vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, beans, peas etc. Cook the vegetables just enough…..

The coconut milk can be made at home from fresh grated coconut which is a little tedious process or we can use a good quality ‘coconut milk’ available in cans. When we use the freshly made coconut milk, we have to be extremely careful for the gravy not to ‘curdle’ by cooking the stew in low heat for more time.

 Potato Stew

• 1 onion

• 3 potatoes

• 3-4 green chillies

• 1 inch piece of ginger

• 2 bunches of curry leaves (available in indian grocery stores)

• 1 can of coconut milk

• salt

• pepper

• 1 tsp of pure coconut oil

Cut the onion and potatoes into pieces, remove the skin of the ginger and cut into a few pieces, slit the green chillies. Add all of them to a sauce pan and add enough water to cover the vegetables . Add salt. You can add more water if you prefer the stew to be dilute, more like a soup (the way my son loves it) and not so thick. Cook in medium heat until the vegetables are cooked. Add the coconut milk and simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Add the ground pepper. Adjust the salt. Add the curry leaves and coconut oil and immediately switch off the heat. No more cooking after oil is added! Let the stew stay covered for 15 minutes before serving.