Serves: Two
Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

3 tbsp oil of your choice
2 cassia leaves or bay leaves
5-cm cinnamon
10 green cardamoms
10 cloves
10 peppercorns
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ onion, sliced
1 tsp shredded ginger
2 green chillies, each split in half lengthways

10 to 12 curry leaves
3 cloves garlic
350 g diced mixed vegetables (carrots, potatoes, beans, cauliflower florets, peas)
250 ml coconut milk (or 40 g coconut milk powder combined with 2 tsp flour and 250 ml water)
1 tsp salt
A few fried cashew nuts, to garnish

Method

1. Heat the oil in a deep pan and add the cassia or bay leaves, and the whole spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, peppercorns, and fennel seeds). Sauté for 30 seconds.
2. Add the onions, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and garlic and sauté for two minutes on a medium heat.
3. Add the vegetables and sauté for three to four minutes, then add the coconut milk and salt, and cook until the vegetables are tender and done to your liking.
4. Serve, sprinkled with fried cashew nuts.

Note: Folklore says the stew originated with the advent of Irish missionaries, who tried to recreate Irish stew using coconut milk. In Kerala, this is often eaten at breakfast with appams or string hoppers, but it works well as a meal too, served with rice.

Excerpted with permission from Vegetables - The Indian Way by Camellia Panjabi, Penguin Random House UK Price: Rs 1,999