Avial - Mixed vegetable curry, Kerala recipe

Avial is a combination of vegetables, with some coconut and other stuff thrown in. It is my favorite vegetable dish, best combined with rice, fish curry and pappadam (papad). Ah, mouth is watering at the thought. It is also a great way to get a lot of veggies into the little tummies at my house. In the mix-up, they forget that they’re eating a lot of vegetables :D.

I love the Avial my mom makes. For me, she makes it slightly mushy, and it tastes oh-so-good! Mummy makes it in a very authentic way. She cooks each vegetable separately so that each is correctly cooked. And she also adds raw mangoes for the correct sourness, and takes it out if it gets too sour, etc etc. I’m too lazy to do all that, plus, not too fond of sour(tamarind-ish) taste, so my Avial preparation is very simple.

The only time-consuming activity is cutting up all the vegetables. I usually use raw banana, carrot, potato, drumstick, and snake gourd. You can use the vegetables of your choice.

Ingredients: 

Vegetables

• Potato – 1
• Carrot – 1
• Snake Gourd – 1
• Drumsticks – 3

Other

• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Salt
• Coconut oil – 1 tablespoon

To grind

• Grated coconut – ½ cup
• Shallots – 10
• Garlic – 2
• Cumin – 1 tsp
• Green chili – According to your spice preference 

Method

1. Wash and slice drumstick, cook in a cooker (for a short whistle), or in an open pot until done. This is the only vegetable that gets special attention from me, because when I cooked it with the other vegetables, all the drumsticks got over-cooked, and looked a mess.
2. Wash and slice all your vegetables, so that they are similar in size. (This takes some time, but I like doing it because it is nice to see the different colors of same shape 😊).
3. Add all the cut veggies into pressure cooker, with just enough water.

4. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, curry leaves and salt. 
   
5. Cook for 3 whistles.
6. In the meantime, grind together ½ cup grated coconut, shallots, garlic, cumin seeds, and green chillies. I grind it to a smooth paste, but if you prefer, you can grind it to a coarse paste so that the coconut is seen. 
   
7. Add the ground mixture to the cooker, allow to boil. 
8. Check for salt and add more if required. 
9. Switch off the flame, add coconut oil, and mix well.

Your tasty and healthy Avial is ready. Enjoy it with rice and any curry of your choice 😊.