Recipe- South Indian Style Vegetable Coocnut Stew

Vegetable coconut stew flavored with mustard seeds, ginger and curry leaves and made in the Instant Pot!

This goes well with idli, dosa, appam or even rice.Have you ever had a south-Indian style vegetable coconut stew?If not, you have been missing out.

My first taste of this dish was from my house help in India. He worked for someone from Kerala before working for us and he learnt to make this dish from there.So he would often make this for us at home. We still call it “Harish bhaiya wali sabzi” because Harish bhaiya made it for us!

I don’t think he knows the name of the dish, I have asked him many times.But more recently at a South Indian restaurant here, I had Kerala Ishtu/Ishtoo and it tasted exactly similar to what he would make.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons oil 10 ml, I used avocado oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 green chili sliced, or more to taste
1 inch ginger chopped
10-15 curry leaves
1 dried red chili broken
1 small yellow onion chopped
2 medium potatoes cubed, 200 grams, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 medium carrots diced
1/4 cup green peas I used frozen
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1.25 cups water 10 oz
1 cup coconut milk canned, 8 oz, I recommend Chaokoh brand
cilantro to garnish

Method

* Press saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add the mustard seeds.

* Let the mustard seeds pop.

* Then add the green chili, ginger, curry leaves, dried red chili and onion.

* Saute for 2 minutes until the onions are soft.

* Then add the potato, carrot, peas, salt, sugar and black pepper.

* Add the water and deglaze the pot. There shouldn't be any browned bits stuck at the bottom of the pan.

* Close the pot with its lid. Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes with the pressure valve in the sealing position.

* Quick release the pressure by manually moving the pressure valve from sealing to venting position. Open the pot by removing the lid.

* Press the saute button and add the coconut milk and let the stew simmer for 2 minutes.

* Garnish with cilantro and serve vegetable coconut stew with appam, dosa or rice.