Chicken stew in pressure cooker is a popular recipe from Kerala, is a light chicken curry with coconut milk, mildly spiced by whole spices.
This chicken stew in pressure cooker is popular in southern state of India, Kerala and in the southern most cities of Tamilnadu.
This chicken Stew is an Indian take on the ancient recipe of the world. Chicken stew in southern part of india is often served for breakfast or brunch along with string hoppers called “Idiyappam” or with “aapam” a rice battered fluffy pancake.
when I decided to put up my stew recipe on the blog, I wanted to add more details on the origin of it and to my suprise found that the world’s oldest known evidence of stew was found in Japan, dating to the Jōmon period. If you know Japan is famous for all of its dishes and the broth makes a big difference it is sort of a stew recipe.
So how is chicken stew in pressure cooker made ?
Stew recipes in general uses meat with vegetables cooked in a pot on a stove top wth vegetables and cooked slowly with mild seasonings and flavour.
so, how is this stew different from the stew recipes from the rest of the world ? This chicken stew in pressure cooker has a special ingredient which makes it unique in flavour compared to other stew recipes. The special ingredient is coconut milk.
How to serve chicken stew made in pressure cooker
Chicken stew is often served for breakfast with idiyappam (Rice string hoppers kind of like rice noodles) or Aapam, which is rice and lentil based pancake with a shape of a bowl. Or, it can be served with dosa. check out my dosa batter recipe below. Idli Dosa Batter recipe
Check out more chicken recipes below,
- Chicken Peratal Recipe – (20 mins recipe) – so quick to make, makes easy for lunch boxe, sometimes I make wraps with it
- Pepper Chicken Gravy
- White chicken curry | Chicken Vellai Kuruma – is very similar to this recipe, tastes great with Roti and Basmati rice
- Chicken Gravy for chapathi and rice
Ingredients required
- Coconut Oil – 3 Tbsp
- Bay Leaf – 2 small
- Cinnamon stick, long rolled – 1/2
- Green Chillies – 4 Long
- Garlic (Finely chopped) – 4 – 5 no.s
- Ginger, thin strips – 2 large coins
- Onions, Sliced Length wise – 1 Large
- Curry leaf 1 sprig
- Black pepper 2 tsp
- Chicken , with bones medium sized- 500 gms
- Salt ,adjust to taste 1-2 tsp
- Flour 2 tsp
- Water , as required
- Coconut milk , Thick or canned – 350 ml
- Carrots , Peeled and diced – 1 large
- peeled and cubed Potatoes – 1 no.
- Tomato, Roughly chopped – 1 Large
Prep work before you begin
Slice the onions, Peel and cube the carrots and potatoes into large cubes.
Clean and wash the chicken pieces,
Finely slice the Garlic pod, Julienne Ginger pieces, Chop Green Chillies.
Roughly chop tomatoes.
Tips
Adding flour will enhance the color and flavour of the overall dish, it also adds a bit of creaminess to the stew so I recommend adding it.
Curry leaves, green chillies, coconut oil are the important flavoring components to this dish.
Final addition of tomato can be replaced with a. Squeeze of lemon juice too, but I personally like the taste of tomatoes in the stew, also adds a beautiful color to it.
Use chicken on bones for a more flavorful stew.
The same recipe can be done without a pressure cooker on a stove top/crockpot but it will take more time.
Vegetarian Version
The same recipe can be tried with hard vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, green beans, cauliflower, peas and instead of water can add a bit of vegetable stock for a little umami.
No need to pressure cook the vegetables, simply cook until soft covered on a stove top.
How to make chicken stew in pressure cooker
- Heat a pressure Pan, add oil and once it is hot, add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, chopped green chillies, curry leaf, sliced garlic pods, ginger and allow it to sizzle for a minute in the oil.
- Add the thinly sliced onions, salt for the onions until the onions are translucent.
- Move the onions to the sides and make space for the cleaned chicken pieces, add them one by one and allow it to be placed on the pan, add, salt and 1 tsp black pepper for a minute or two.
- Next add flour and toss it in the chicken pieces. Allow it to roast for 5 mins on medium flame. You can cover it.
- The color of the chicken would have changed by now, gently release the chicken pieces from the bottom of the pan, add water until all the chicken pieces are almost covered and scrape all the browned bits on the pan.
- Cover the pressure cooker and add a whistle and pressure cook it for 1-2 whistles (Time and whistles depends on your chicken pieces size and quality)
- Once the pressure is released, open the lid and add the carrots, potatoes, half of the coconut milk. Cover and bring it to a simmer for 5 minutes on low to medium flame. Until the carrots and the potatoes are cooked and soft.
- Finally add the remaining coconut milk, 1 tsp black pepper powder and squeeze in the chopped tomatoes into the stew. Cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Your stew is ready to be serve with idiyappam, Aaapam, Dosa, Rice, Idli, Parotta or even bread slices.
Chicken Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Coconut Oil
- 2 small Bay Leaf
- 1/2 Cinnamon stick (long rolled )
- 4-5 no.s Green Chillies
- 4 Large Garlic (Finely chopped)
- 2 large coins Ginger (thin strips)
- 1 Large Onions (Sliced Length wise)
- 1 sprig Curry leaf
- 500 gms Chicken (with bones medium sized)
- 1-2 tsp Salt (adjust to taste)
- 2 tsp Black pepper
- 2 tsp Flour
- Water (as required)
- 350 ml Coconut milk (Thick or canned)
- 1 large Carrots (Peeled and diced)
- 1 no. peeled and cubed Potatoes
- 1 Large Tomato (Roughly chopped)
Instructions
- Heat a pressure Pan, add oil and once it is hot, add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, chopped green chillies, curry leaf, sliced garlic pods, ginger and allow it to sizzle for a minute in the oil.
- Add the thinly sliced onions, salt for the onions until the onions are translucent.
- Move the onions to the sides and make space for the cleaned chicken pieces, add them one by one and allow it to be placed on the pan, add, salt and 1 tsp black pepper for a minute or two.
- Next add flour and toss it in the chicken pieces. Allow it to roast for 5 mins on medium flame. You can cover it.
- The color of the chicken would have changed by now, gently release the chicken pieces from the bottom of the pan, add water until all the chicken pieces are almost covered and scrape all the browned bits on the pan.
- Cover the pressure cooker and add a whistle and pressure cook it for 1-2 whistles (Time and whistles depends on your chicken pieces size and quality)
- Once the pressure is released, open the lid and add the carrots, potatoes, half of the coconut milk. Cover and bring it to a simmer for 5 minutes on low to medium flame. Until the carrots and the potatoes are cooked and soft.
- Finally add the remaining coconut milk, 1 tsp black pepper powder and squeeze in the chopped tomatoes into the stew. Cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Your stew is ready to be serve with idiyappam, Aaapam, Dosa, Rice, Idli, Parotta or even bread slices.
Also check out other similar recipes