STEW WITH MINCED MEAT

     Stew is a delicately flavoured, curry with only a slight tinge of spices and aromatics and of course a lot of Coconut Milk. What is it about Kerala Cuisine without coconuts?  This recipe calls for minced meat, instead of meat chunks, and the ground paste gives a twist to the traditional Stew.  It is a perfect combination for bread, Appam and Idiyappam.

     This recipe is adapted from Vanitha (a Malayalam Magazine).  My MIL reads this fortnightly, and also collect these books.  Whenever she visits Malaysia, she brings few editions for me.  I love to see the pictures and scroll immediately into recipe pages before pondering into other articles. All the more I am a big fan of Mrs. K.M. Mathews (founder and editor of Vanitha Magazine), it was she who brought in the recipe culture into simple minds.  She has the glory of taking Kerala Cuisine across the globe.  I have a huge collection of her recipes, which I have been collecting since my childhood from Malayala Manorama and Vanitha.

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Cuisine - Kerala
Recipe Type - Stew
Course - Side Dish
Spice Level - Low
Difficulty - Medium
Serves - 4- 6
Author - SM

Preparation Time - 20-30 Minutes
Cooking Time - 15-20 Minutes

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HOW TO MAKE STEW WITH MINCED MEAT

INGREDIENTS:

Minced Meat - 500 Grams
Carrot - 1 Cup
Green Peas - 1/2 -3/4 Cup
Potatoes - 1 Cup
Onions - 1 No.
Tomato - 1 No.(Optional)
Thick Coconut Milk - 1 Cup
Thin Coconut Milk - 1 Cup
Curry Leaves - 2 Sprigs
Salt - To Taste
Oil - 2 Tablespoons
Coriander Leaves - To Garnish

To Grind:

Dry Red Chillies - 4 No's.
Ginger - 1/2"
Garlic - 4 Cloves
Cardamom - 2 pods
Cloves - 2 No's.
Cinnamon - 1/2" Stick
Vinegar - 1 Tablespoon

METHOD:

• Grind the ingredients mentioned under 'To Grind' along with vinegar to a smooth paste.
• Clean, Peel and dice Carrots and Potatoes.
• Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the diced Potatoes until 1/2 cooked.
• Remove the potatoes from the oil and drain them on a paper towel.
• In the remaining oil, sauté Onions and Curry leaves until onions turn translucent.
• Add the ground paste to the above and fry them until oil separate from the mixture.
• Add Tomatoes and sauté until they are well cooked.
• Then add in thhe Minced Meat and sauté it for a while until the colour changes.
• Next, add Carrots, Peas and Shallow fried Potatoes to the above.
• Sprinkle some salt and enough water for the Vegetables and Minced meat to cook.
• Once the vegetables and minced meat are cooked, pour thin coconut milk and mix well.
• Leave this to boil on a very low flame, stirring occasionally.
• Finally, pour in the Thick Coconut Milk and give a quick stir.
• Leave this on a low flame for a few minutes.
• Finally, garnish it with Coriander Leaves.
• Creamy Minced Meat Stew is ready to be served with Appam, Idiyappam, Puttu or any dish of your choice.
• Goes well with Bread too. 

NOTES:

• Shallow frying the potatoes are truly optional.
• If you want bit more spicy stew, can add few Green Chillies while sauteing the onions, or finally sprinkle some white pepper over the stew (this is to retain the white colour of the stew).
• If cooking the meat and vegetable in a pressure cooker, just cook it for a whistle.  
• Minced meat tends to cook sooner, and the vinegar makes it soft and succulent.
• I usually add about 3-4 teaspoons of Milk Powder along with Coconut Milk, which yields you with a creamy, white Stew.  But it is purely optional