If you have been to a traditional Kerala feast (Sadya), at a wedding, a ceremony, or a festival like Onam, you would have definitely come across and tasted Avial (Aviyal), served alongside twenty or more other vegetarian dishes, and felt amazed how elegantly it stood out as the hero on the plate (or the plantain leaf in truly traditional instances).
Cooked with an assortment of vegetables, grated coconut, mildly sour yogurt (or raw mangoes), and garnished with coconut oil, Avial is a star dish that elevates any meal to a feast!
If cooking traditional Kerala recipes was a console game, I would have rated making Avial (Aviyal) a difficult level to pass. That was a few weeks ago. Not anymore! This ‘Take It Easy’ recipe offers a walk-through for you to cook an Avial that’ll emerge a winner on any dining table!
Some interesting trivia about Avial before moving on to the recipe.
- There is absolutely no frying involved. That’s so healthy!
- You can use almost any vegetable to make Avial. However, there are some exceptions – typically you wouldn’t see bitter gourd, cabbage, tomatoes, okra, or beet roots in Avial
- There is no garlic, or onions involved
- There is no tempering with mustard seeds, or dry chilies involved
- And finally, if you do away the step of adding yogurt, and include raw mangoes instead, you have a full vegan delicacy!
Avial/Aviyal (Kerala Mixed Vegetable Curry)
Ingredients
- 100 grams raw banana
- 100 grams snake gourd
- 100 grams drumstick
- 100 grams Beans
- 100 grams carrot
- 100 grams yam
- 100 grams cucumber
- 50 grams Potatoes
- 1 cup grated coconut
- 3 teaspoons yogurt (optional)
- 1/2 cup raw mango (optional)
- 1/4 cup shallots
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- To taste salt
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 3 - 4 chilies (medium hot) Green
- 2 sprigs curry leaves
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
Instructions
- Clean the vegetables and get ready to prep them. Don't be intimidated by the the variety of ingredients. Don't worry about the quantities either. In this recipe, I have used roughly a cup of each vegetable (after cutting).
- Cut all the vegetables lengthwise to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Keep those vegetables which have less cooking times in a different bowl. In this instance, it's yam and cucumber. Note: I used cucumber only because I couldn't get hold of the Sambar cucumber (Indian yellow cucumber / Vellarikka). Ideally, that is the cucumber that you should use. Place all other veggies in a different bowl.
- Add turmeric powder, one green chili cut lengthwise, salt, one sprig curry leaves, and one tablespoon coconut oil to this bowl and mix well with your hand. While mixing, put some extra pressure to massage the turmeric powder and salt into the pieces.
- Move this to a pan, add 1/2 cup of water, mix well and cook for 10 minutes on a low flame with the lid closed. Stir occasionally.
- Open the lid. The vegetables would be cooked to tender by now. Add the remaining vegetables and cook for 5 more minutes with the lid closed. If you are a vegan, or if you don't want to use yogurt, add diced raw mangoes to the pan in this step.
- In a mixer, add the grated coconut, remaining green chilies, shallots, and cumin seeds.
- Coarsely grind them.
- Open the lid, and add the ground coconut mixture to the cooked vegetables.
- Stir well. Take care not to mash the pieces.
- For others who are happy to follow the traditional recipe, add 3 tablespoons of yogurt to the pan. Note: Beat the yogurt for a few seconds, before adding it. Stir well, and cook for another 5 minutes, without the lid, on a low flame.
- Drizzle one tablespoon of coconut oil on the top, add the remaining curry leaves, mix well, check for salt, and switch off the flame.
- Serve hot with rice and other accompaniments. Every time you cook this recipe, experiment with the vegetables that you use, and find perfect combinations you like!
Hi Arun,
You have not list the turmeric in the ingredients – how much?
Also, when does the remaining sprig of curry leaves go in? One goes in with veg. Does the other get ground with onions or is it a garnish? Looking forward to trying this in my Thermomix!
Hi Aruna,
Thank you very much for visiting my blog. That’s a good catch.
I have updated the recipe to include the turmeric powder measurement (and it’s only 1/2 teaspoon).
The remaining curry leaves is added along with the coconut oil in the last step.
I have included that now.
Hello Aurn. Tried cooking Avial as per your recepie with a little twist. My first try. Added some red pumpkin and finely chopped lemon grass stem for the aroma and to make it a little sweet sour. Turned out quite good. Probably an little adjustment in the proportion of ingredients could add to the flavour. Try it out.
Hi Tushar,
Red pumpkin sounds like a good addition to the avial mix. However, the lemon grass is blasphemy!! 🙂 That’s a strong flavour among the otherwise delicately balanced tasting notes of avial.