Heat coconut oil in a pan. Coconut oil is preferred for this recipe. Add in the cardamom, cloves, finely chopped ginger, chopped green chillies, a few sprigs of curry leaves and some sliced shallots. Saute till the shallots are soft. Shallots aka the Indian sambar onions are preferred for making this recipe. If you cannot get hold of shallots, regular onions can also be used but first preference would be for shallots as they are sweet, mild and are perfect for the stew.

While the shallots are frying, make a stew paste. Take a small blender and add in the cashews. Cashews give a nice body to the stew. Add in the green chillies – adjust the green chillies according to your taste, add in the fennel seeds and little water to grind. Grind the mixture to a really fine paste.

The ground mixture should be smooth and creamy. Add in the ground paste to the pan. Add in a cup of water along. Mix well to combine. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the mixture for about 3-4 minutes on a low flame. The cashew paste must be cooked by this time and the gravy should look very creamy.  Add in the salt.

Take about 500 grams of baby potatoes that have been boiled and peeled. Keep the potatoes bite size. If the potato is a little big, halve them so all the potatoes are of uniform size. Add the potatoes to the pan.

Take about 4 hard boiled eggs and make small gashes for the stew to penetrate into the eggs. You can keep the eggs as whole or halve them. It’s totally up to you. I like to keep the eggs whole. Add the eggs to the pan. Add in a cup of coconut milk along. Canned coconut milk can also be used for this recipe. If using home made coconut milk, use thick coconut milk. Mix well to combine. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

In the meantime, let’s make a tempering for the stew. Heat ghee in a small tempering kadai. Add in the sliced shallots and the curry leaves. Roast them in ghee on a medium flame till golden. Once the shallots are golden, switch off the flame. With the flame switched off, add in the black pepper powder. Saute for a few seconds for the pepper powder to become aromatic. Add in the tempering to the stew.

Our delicious baby potato egg stew is ready. It can be served with appam or idiyappam.