New Delhi: Avial is a healthy, flavorful dish of mixed vegetables in a coconut and yogurt sauce with a finishing of coconut oil and curry leaves. It is a popular traditional recipe from Kerala cuisine.
Ingredients
Veggies
- 1 cup chopped ash gourd (white pumpkin, winter melon, petha)
- 1 cup chopped pumpkin
- 1 cup chopped drumsticks or 1 to 2 drumsticks (moringa pods, sahjan ki phalli)
- 1 cup chopped elephant foot yam (suran)
- 1 cup chopped Mangalore cucumber (field marrow, madras cucumber)
- 1 cup chopped plantain (raw unripe banana)
- ½ cup chopped french beans (green beans)
For Coconut Paste
- 1 cup fresh grated coconut
- 2 to 3 green chillies
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ⅓ to ½ cup water, for grinding
Other Ingredients
- 1 cup water, for cooking veggies
- 1 cup Curd (yogurt), beaten
- 12 to 15 curry leaves
- 1 to 2 tablespoons coconut oil
Instructions
Preparation
- Firstly rinse all the veggies with fresh water. Then drain all the water.
- Then peel and chop them in medium to long thick sticks or batons. Keep aside.
- For chopped unripe bananas, keep them immersed in water so that they do not darken.
- Beat 1 cup of fresh curd with a wired whisk and keep aside.
- Making Coconut Paste
- In a grinder take 1 cup grated coconut, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and 2 to 3 green chilies (chopped).
- Add ⅓ to ½ cup water and grind to a coarse paste. Keep this coconut paste aside.
Cooking Vegetables
- Take the vegetables which take a longer time to cook in a pan or pot. I have added carrots, drumsticks and green beans (french beans) first.
- If the drumsticks are very tender then add them later with veggies that take less time to cook. I added at this step as I had drumsticks which take a longer time to cook.
- Sprinkle ½ teaspoon turmeric powder and salt as per taste.
- Add 1 cup of water and stir well.
- Cover the pan and keep it on a stovetop on medium-low to medium flame.
- Simmer till the vegetables are half cooked.
- Then add the remaining vegetables which take less time to cook. At this step, I have added plantain, Mangalore cucumber (field marrow), ash gourd and pumpkin.
- Mix it with the remaining half-cooked vegetables.
- Cover and continue to cook on medium-low to medium flame.
- In between do check and if the water dries, you can always add more water.
- Simmer till the vegetables are almost cooked.
Making Avial
- Add the ground coconut paste.
- Mix gently but well.
- Let the mixture simmer for some 5 to 7 minutes or till the veggies are completely cooked. They should hold shape. So do not cook them too much. If the mixture becomes dry, then add some water.
- When all the veggies are cooked and softened, then reduce the flame to a low. Add the whisked curd.
- Mix gently. And simmer for a minute and switch off the flame.
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of coconut oil.
- Also, add 12 to 15 curry leaves. Mix well. Then cover and let the flavours infuse for 5 minutes.
- Serve aviyal with steamed rice, Kerala sambar, pickle and some papadums. It makes for a healthy, filling and satisfying lunch or dinner.
