Avial/Avilu

Avial/Avilu is a famous side dish of South India. I used to love this whenever my mother used to prepare. Almost all our functions used to have this as one side dish. Even for Onam this is a famous side dish without which an Onam Sadya is incomplete. As I couldn't get good raw bananas as well as yam, I didn't prepare avail for my Onam Sadya here. Now that I managed getting good varieties of veggies I decided to prepare this side dish at home. Without much blabbering let me take you to the recipe. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
Purple yam / Rasavalli kilangu-1
Carrots-2 small
Raw mango-1 small
Green beans-8-10
Potatoes-4 small
Drumstick-1 or 2
Raw banana-1
Shallot-1 chopped
Green chillies-2
Cumin seeds/jeera-1 tsp.
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp.
Dry Coconut gratings-1 1/2 cup
Coconut milk-250ml
Curry leaves-2 sprigs
Coconut oil-2 tbsp.
Water-1 1/2 cup
Salt to taste

Recipe:

1. Clean all veggies you are planning to use and set aside. Dice them to almost similar sizes an get them ready.
2. In a pan add 1 tbsp. of oil.
3. When hot add these diced veggies into the pan.
4. Add turmeric powder and water and let the veggies cook till they are well cooked.
5. Add coconut gratings, chopped shallots, green chillies, cumin seeds in a bowl.
6. Soak the ingredients in step 5 using the coconut milk.
7. Once veggies are fully cooked add salt to taste.
8. Add the chopped pieces of raw mango to give mild tanginess.
9. Cook a little further and then grind the soaked mixture in step 6 to a coarse paste and add it to the cooked veggies. Mix well.
10. Add a tbsp. of coconut oil and curry leaves and mix well. Remove from flame and keep it covered 10-15 mins. before serving so that all flavors are well assimilated. Enjoy this with hot rice.

 

 

Notes:

1. I used dry coconut gratings. So used coconut milk to soak them and later ground them. If you have fresh coconut go ahead, then you may skip adding coconut milk as I did.
2. Always try using coconut oil for this delicacy, as it brings out the real flavor. If you do not have access to it, you may go ahead with any vegetable oil.
3. Some add yogurt to this side dish, if you wish you can add a little at the end stage while mixing the ground coconut to the cooked veggies and turn off the heat. I did not add though.
4. You can use any other variety of yam, I got the purple yam, hence used them.

 

Enjoy the dish! n don't forget Eat and Eat little MORE.. :)

Sending this to Guru's Cooking