Aviyal

One of my all time favourite dishes is aviyal. It is an important side dish for all festival and auspicious lunches. My mother once told me that the origin of the dish was infact due to a totally different reason. Sometimes the lady of the house will find that she has a small quantity of every vegetable and each not enough to make the required quantity of a dish for the whole family. So the aviyal came about.

Ingredients

The vegetables for avial are chenai (suran or elephant yam), cucumber (indian variety preferable but you can use field cucumbers too), ash gourd, carrots, beans, long beans (payar), zucchini, drumstick, cheeni avarakkai, eggplant all cut into 1" length thin pieces. Raw mango is optional and only one half of the mango is needed. Potatoes too can be added but you will not find this in the traditional recipe. Most of these vegetables will reduce in quantity when cooked, so you will need a medium sized bowl amount of uncooked veggies for a family of 4.

coconut oil - 3 tsp

shredded coconut - 3tbsp (fresh or dry)

red chillis -- 4-5 nos according to taste

tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp(reduce quantity if you have added raw mango)

Jeera / Cumin -- 1/2 tsp

curry leaves -- 1 sprig

turmeric powder - a pinch

salt as per taste

water

Method

In a deep vessel put 1 tsp of coconut oil and then add all the cut veggies along with water to cover half the quantity. Add salt, turmeric and semi cook the veggies. An alternative is to cook the veggies in the pressure cooker with a little water for 2 steams. In the meanwhile grind the coconut, cumin and redchillies to a semi smooth paste and set aside. Once the vegetables get semi cooked add the tamarind paste and let it mix well and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the coconut paste, mix well. Make a well at the center of the aviyal and add the remaining coconut oil and curry leaves, cover it with aviyal from the sides. Cover the vessel for a few minutes and then switch off the heat. Your aviyal is ready.

Another version of aviyal is made by using sour curds(used instead of tamarind) and green chillis (used instead of red chillis), and omitting turmeric. The rest of the method is the same and the result is a white aviyal.

Aviyal Kuzhambu is made by the same method, but you need to add little more water so that the dish has gravy. It is best eaten with ghee rice with or without any other side dish accompaniment.