Kerala Style Chicken Stew

There are few things as comforting as chicken stew to have with appam or steamed milk bread. Not bread just out of the packet of bread, but one that you have steamed for about 3- 4 minutes, making it utterly soft and ready to sop up all that is on your plate. 

And Kerala style chicken stew is perfect for that hot, steaming bread - mild in flavor and easy to prepare. You don't need to spend hours to enjoy a perfect breakfast or dinner, just a few minutes and some patience. 

What makes the stew or Ishtew as it is sometimes referred to the perfect breakfast accompaniment is the lack of "masalas" - you don't have tonnes of chilli powder or coriander powder, the usual suspects in Indian cooking. Instead you have mild whole spices - sputtered in oil, just enough to impart its fragrance. Everyone at home can have the same meal - no one would complain that it upset their tummy or their mouth was on fire. 

Most of the time you have what you need in your kitchen itself. Nothing out of the blue, you can add or remove veggies basis what is in your refrigerator. Don't have bean, no problem, a lot of carrots left over - go ahead add them. Chicken, Peas, etc optional to add. The essence of the stew is the coconut milk and spice. But let me tell you a secret, many a woman have added whole milk instead of coconut milk when in a pinch. I won't say it tastes exactly the same, it doesn't. But does it work. Do you have to break your head on the lack of a broken coconut... I don't think so. 

Without further thoughts of mine... 

Ingredients

Chicken 1 pound, boneless, cut into bite sized pieces, roughly 1 inch x i inch pieces

Cinnamon - 1 inch stick of cinnamon

Cloves 5-8

Cardamom - 4

Green chillies - 2 slit in the middle

Ginger - 1 inch chopped

Garlic - 2 cloves

Curry leaves - 5-8 (optional)

Onion - 1/2 cup onion sliced

Carrot - 1 cut into 1 inch pieces

Potato - 1 cut into 1 inch cubes

Beans - 5-6 cut into 1 inch long pieces

Peas - 1/2 cup

Coconut milk - 3/4th cup

Water - as needed

Salt - 1tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Heat pan, add oil, and add the cloves, cinnamon & cardamom let it splutter for 30 - 45 seconds. Add in green chilli, ginger and saute for 30 seconds more, add in garlic and onion and salt and let it sauté till onion turns translucent ( about 2 mins). Once the onions are cooked, add in the chicken & veggies and 1/ cup water with 4 - 5 tablespoons of coconut milk. Cover the pot and simmer and cook till potato and carrot is cooked. This should take about 20 mins or so. Increase the time by another 5 - 10 mins if the carrot or potato is not cooked. Once the veggies are cooked, add in the rest of the coconut milk and add water if needed to adjust the consistency. Bring it to a soft boil and switch off the flame. Serve with bread, appam or just have it on it's own.