MIXED VEGETABLE AVIAL  


. Avial or Aviyal is a South Indian stew of vegetables, coconut and curd. The garnish of curry leaves in coconut oil gives it that distinctive and addictive taste.. I was amazed to know that it has its origin in the epic Mahabharata era where this dish was supposedly invented by one of the Pandava brothers - the well built Bhima. 

• 1/2 cup curd/yogurt (*)
• 3-4 cups of mixed vegetables (**)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil WITH VIRGIN PLUS WITH EXTRA VIRGIN OIL
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1-2 green chillies, or as per taste
• 1/2 cup grated fresh coconut, tightly packed (frozen works too, though fresh preferable)
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• Salt to taste
• Few curry leaves for garnish

(*) Sour curd is normally used but here we used fat free Greek yogurt since that's what I always have in hand and it worked equally well.
(**)You can use any vegetables available. For this recipe we used potatoes, taro root,pumpkin,carrots and brinjal. Other vegetables that you can use are beans, cluster beans, plantains or any other variety of potatoes.

Grind the coconut, chillies and cumin seed together into a paste.

You can grind them together like how we did or grind the  coconut and chillies together first and then add the cumin to blend into a paste. Set aside.Meanwhile in a pan take the chopped vegetables and boil them in water (that is sufficient enough to cover them). If using taro root, you would have to boil it separately, peel, chop into chunks and then add it to this water (after the rest of the vegetables become soft). We had some leftover boiled taro root, hence it was perfect for this recipe.  The other vegetables can be added together with a pinch of turmeric and boiled until soft. Once soft, add salt.Add the coconut paste to this water and bring it to a boil.While that's coming to a boil, take another small pan. Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil and saute the curry leaves. Once the aroma starts wafting drop the leaves to the coconut-vegetable (aviyal) Remove from heat. Once it has cooled down to room temperature, add the yogurt mixture.and give it a good mix.

Delicious coconut and vegetable stew ready! Its normally enjoyed along with rice - as part of 3-4 course meal.

MY HUBBY HAVE WITH ROTI OR ADAI AVIAL