 |
| Avial |
Enjoy this Simple, Light &
Yummy Dish!! A very popular dish in south india.
Avial is supposed to have been invented by Bhima
(one of the Pandava brothers)
during their exile. According to the legend, when
Bhima assumed his duties as the
cook in the kitchen of Virata, he did not know
how to cook. One of the first things
he did was to chop up many different
vegetables, boil them together and top the
dish with grated coconut. Bhima is
said to have prepared Avial, when there were
unexpected guests for King Virata
,when there was no sufficient vegetables to cook
any single recipe for side
dish, so Bheema used whatever available vegetables to
make a new dish, which
came to know as Avial.Vegetables commonly used in
avial
are elephant yam, plantain, pumpkin, carrots, beans, Brinjal,cucumber,
drum
sticks, snake gourd , Carrots, beans etc.While the north Keralan Avial
includes bitter
gourd also. Some people prefer to skip curd or substitute it
with raw mango or
tamarind pulp. This dish can be made into a gravy or be made
into a semi-solid side
dish. It is generally eaten with rice. The word
"avial" is also used to denote 'boiled'
or 'cooked in water' —this
sense being derived from the way the dish is made.
Recipe Courtesy: My friend ,Swathi
Rao
Ingredients:
Chopped Carrots, lauki, kundru
(u can add in ur choice of veggies)
1 cup fresh coconut
1tsp jeera,pinch of hing, 1tsp
mustard seeds,kadi patta
3 green chillies+ Dry 4 red chillies
2 cups of curd mixed wit a
little water n salt (I used packed nestle curd)
2 tbsp oil (coconut oil is
preffered here, but I used normal oil)
Method:
In a pan of hot water, Boil all
the vegetables together till soft. Remove n strain the
water & keep veggies
aside.Grind together Coconut pieces+
jeera+ chillies to a
paste(without water).Heat oil in a pan temper with mustard
seeds,kadi patta n hing
& add the coconut paste . Saute for 3-5 minutes
constantly stirring till u get a nice
aroma of the paste.Now add in the boiled
vegetables n mix well. Stir in the curd
mixture slowly n cook for 5-7 minutes
more.And ur yummy dish is ready. Serve
with steamed rice!!