Aviyal (Avial)

Aviyal is a simple recipe that can be made in less than 30 minutes. It's a mixture of vegetables, spiced with coconut, green chillies and jeera (cumin seeds) and seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves.

This is a classic dish of Kerala and Tamilnadu and is prepared slightly differently in the two states. Since my dad hails from Palakkad/Madras and my mom was brought up in Trivandrum, I'm familiar with the subtle variations too :)

What You Need -

2 cups of Vegetables - Plaintain (raw banana), old cucumber, carrot, beans, potato, peas, yam, drumstick and whatever you like :)
Coconut oil - 4 tbsp
Coconut (grated) - 5 tbsp
Green chillies - 4 nos (adjust according to the spice level you can tolerate)
Cumin seeds/ Jeera - 1tsp
Curd - 3 tbsp
Rice or Rice flour (optional) - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder/Haldi - a pinch (optional)


How To -

1. Chop the vegetables into 2" long, 1 cm thick slices. 
2. Cook them with salt and turmeric(optional) till tender. Do not overcook, please. This will take about 10 minutes. Filter off the water.
3. Blend together coconut, jeera, green chillies and rice /rice flour into a paste. Add a little of the water filtered from the cooked vegetables. 
4. Take a kadai,  heat 2 tbsp of coconut oil and tear a few curry leaves and add.
5. After a minute, add the cooked veggies, mix slightly. 
6. Now, add the mixture from Step 3 and carefully coat the vegetables with the coconut mixture. Add curd now. Ensure that the veggies don't get mashed. Finally, stir in another 2 tbsp of coconut oil.
7. Switch off the gas after 5 minutes.

Aviyal can be served as a side dish with sambar/rasam , when it is made thick (without curd, Kerala-style). You can make it as a gravy, the Tamil way. I prefer the latter :)

I made a quick weekday-morning aviyal in 30 minutes(including peeling and chopping veggies) with just cucumber, carrots and potato and packed a nice home-made lunch :)

Malabar Velliri or Old Cucumber