'' Avial '' ...A famous dish in '' Kerala cuisine ''

Vegetables for '' Avial ''

Ingredients for coconut paste [ grated coconut, green chillies, curry leaves, turmeric poweder, chilly powder, jeera]

Coconut paste

Avial

Aviyal (Malayalam അവിയല്, pronounced [aʋijal]) is a dish that has a unique place in a typical Kerala Cuisine. It is a thick mixture of a lot vegetables, curd and coconut.It is seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves.

Aviyal is considered an essential part of any Malayali Sadhya (feast).

Story of Avial

According to the legend, it is supposed to have been invented by Bheema (strongest of the Pandava brothers) during their agnaathavaasa – the life in anonimity. Ballav (Bheem's name during this time) assumed the duties as the cook in the kitchen of Virata, did not know how to cook. One of the first things he did was to cut different types of vegetables, boiled them together and put some grated coconut - and thus formed the “Avial”. Over the years it changed only very little. Some prefer it with thick gravy.

Common vegetables that are used to make aviyal are yam, plantain, drumsticks, carrots etc. Some people prefer to substitute curd with raw mango or tamarind pulp. This dish can be made into a gravy and eaten with rice or be made into a semi-solid side dish. The word "aviyal" is also used to denote an assortment or a mixture - this sense being derived from the way the dish is made.

Method

Cut all the Vegetables to finger size.
Boil all together in a cup of water till 90 % done. Add ground paste, thick curd and salt as required and boil for a few minutes.
Take off the stove and add 3-4 drops of coconut oil and a bunch of curry leaves [ optional ].