ISHTOO

Dish of the Day- Ishtoo
Place- Kerala

Ishtoo is Kerala's traditional stew made with potatoes swimming in coconut milk. Mallu cuisine uses a lot of coconut and this is a classic example of a coconut-laden Malayali dish.

As to how its name came about, I have a theory. When they first tasted it, Britishers probably called it stew and Indians couldn't pronounce it very well so the pronounciation of 'stew' was tortured by Keralites until it agreed to be called 'ishtoo'! But this is just conjecture on my part- please don't go around quoting my theory. Although on second thought, I would love it if someone quoted me..;)

The first time I ate ishtoo was at a friend's place. Poppu calls us for an aunthentic, traditional home-cooked South Indian meal every Onam and I personally await it more than my own harvest festival! The best part about it is we get to eat on banana leaves and we have to fold it up and keep our steel tumbler on the leaf once we're done. There's just some charm to these customs which makes me proud that I'm a South Indian.

I'm dedicating this post to Mini aunty who took time out to give me this recipe. She makes the world's best fish curry, and some day she'll teach me how to..:)

How to Cook it Up:- (serves 4 people)


Potatoes..............4 to 5 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
Onions..................1 medium coarsely chopped
Ginger..................1 inch piece
Green chillies.....6 to 7
Curry leaves.......2 stems
Coconut oil...........1 tsp
Coconut milk.......1 cup of the thick milk (first extract) and  3 cups of the thin milk (second and third extract)
Salt to taste


Directions:-

* These days, you get the dried and liquid variants of coconut milk in the market. For each cup of thick milk, you can dilute it with one cup of water and use it as thin milk. If you want to do things the old-fashioned way (and I would suggest you do that because the flavour gets enhanced in a way I can't explain), here goes.

1) Grate 2 coconuts. Sprinkle some warm water over it and knead it slightly to squeeze out the milk. Strain it using a muslin cloth and keep it aside. This is the first extract or the thick milk.

2) Repeat the kneading, squeezing, straining procedure to get the second and third extracts.

Now back to the ishtoo.

1) Boil the potatoes, onions, ginger and green chillies in the thin coconut milk and keep stirring it continuously because it has a tendency to crack.
2) Then lower the flame to a simmer and leave it like that until the potatoes get cooked.
3) Add salt and the thick coconut milk to it and let it cook for some time- but take it off the flame before it starts to boil.
4) Sink in the curry leaves and drizzle it with coconut oil.


Ishtoo HAS to be eaten with Vellayappam- a Kerala version of the Tamilnadu dosa. If not, it goes really well with hot rice too.