Pumpkin and Vegetables Stew in Coconut Milk

Warm Winter Sun on a cold Sunday morning calls for soothing lunch . What can be better than stew with coconut milk.  "COCONUT"  and its byproducts have become my major cooking ingredients of late.

Pumpkin has always paired well with stew and coconut. And I used other vegetables like zucchini, opo squash, potato and french beans.

No more store bought coconut milk or canned coconut milk. Found a new Ikea tool that scrapes coconut meat easily .My neighborhood Safeway and WholeFoods have been more than happy to break the coconuts for me everytime I buy them.


For the milk:

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut or unsweetened dessicated coconut
1/4-1/3 cup water

Blend together the grated coconut and water until you get the milk. If the milk is coarse, pass the milk through a strainer.
For a thick milk, blend the coconut and water with  a tsp rice/rice flour/white flour.

For the stew:

1 cup pumpkin chunks
1/2 cup zucchini chunks
1 large potato cut into chunks
1/4 cup french beans cut into inch long pieces
1/3 cup opo squash or yellow squash chunks
1 large jalapeno slit
salt to taste





For garnish:
1.5 tsp cumin
1.5 tsp coconut oil



Boil the veggies with jalapeno in a stockpot covered with half the quantity water. Retain the broth.
Cook them al dente.
Stir in the coconut milk in the stockpot ,add salt and mix the veggies gently to not mash them.

Simmer them for 5 mins on low flame.

Toast the cumin in coconut oil . Use it for garnishing the stew.

Serve hot with rice and South Indian style tomato soup(Rasam).