Kerala Avial Recipe

avial was a regular dish at my home. my mother would make it once a week with sambar. mom made this when we were for a short visit at my parent’s place. i took the pics and was pretty pleased with the pictures.

in avial, we use mix vegetables, but of a different kind. not the usual cauliflower, carrot, peas, beans combo. the vegetables that are generally added to avial are:

drumsticks/phalli
carrots
cucumber – the oblong cucumber used in sambar
raw plaintain
pumpkin/kaddu
ash gourd/petha
green beans – any variety can be used. we have used chawli (snake beans) and gavar (cluster beans)
tendli/tindora (gherkins)
suran/elephant yam
arvi/colocasia
snake gourd

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Serving Size: 4-5

Ingredients

    The Veggies:
    1 cup chopped pumpkin/kaddu
    1 cup chopped yam/suran
    1 cup chopped colocasia/arbi
    1 cup chopped raw plantain
    1/2 cup chopped ash gourd/petha
    1/2 cup chopped tendli/gherkins
    1/2 cup chopped snake beans/chawli
    1/2 cup chopped cluster beans/gavar
    2 stalks of curry leaves
    The Coconut Masala:
    1 and 1/2 cup grated coconut
    2 green chilies
    1 tsp cumin
    Tempering Ingredients:
    2-3 tbsp coconut oil
    1 tsp mustard seeds
    2-3 dry red chilies or kashmiri red chilies
    Other Ingredients:
    1 cup beaten curd/yogurt
    1 tsp turmeric powder
    3 cups water
    salt

you can always go for your own combinations of veggies depending on the availability and your choice.

a step by step recipe for making the south indian kerala classic dish at home follows:

firstly chop all the vegetables and keep aside.

keep the chopped colocasia in salted water for 20 minutes to reduce the sliminess.

keep the chopped plantain in salted water for some minutes to avoid discoloration before cooking.

begin to cook the vegetables with curry leaves in water with some salt added to it. as we have used curry leaves at this step, we have not added curry leaves in the tempering. but you if you don’t add curry leaves now, you must fry them when making the tempering.

whilst the veggies are cooking we prepare the ground coconut masala – ingredients as shown in pic below.

grind the coconut, cumin and green chilies with little water to a coarse paste.

by now the veggies will be half cooked,

so its time to add some bright yellow color to the avial – turmeric powder…

stir the turmeric with the rest of the half cooked veggies.

after a minute, add the ground coconut paste.

stir the paste with the rest of the cooked veggies.

let the mixture simmer for some more minutes till the veggies are completely cooked. take beaten curd in a bowl or cup.

when all the veggies are cooked, add the curd.

stir and simmer the avial for a minute and close the fire.

now comes the seasoning. in hot coconut oil, add the seasoning ingredients and when they sizzle.

pour the hot seasoning on the avial.

as soon as you finish pouring the seasoning, cover the pan with a lid for 3-5 minutes so that the aromas and flavors are absorbed. later, stir well the seasoning with the rest of the avial.