Avial recipe Kerala style (aviyal recipe Kerala style) made using mixed vegetables, curd (yogurt), coconut and few spices is one of the most popular Kerala vegetarian recipes prepared for Kerala style lunch and dinner.
What Is Kerala Dish Avial?
Avial is actually one of the most common, traditional and popular Kerala side dishes to be served along with rice even for festivals and celebrations.
Avial can be made using different veggies and avial made using mixed veggies is an integral dish of South Indian Kerala vegetarian cuisine.
See potato avial recipe here which is an easy avial recipe for lunch or dinner, and it is made mainly using potatoes instead of using different varieties of vegetables.
In Kerala, boiled brown rice is more commonly used for lunch and dinner, and so this avial recipe Kerala style is prepared and served with Kerala style boiled brown rice more popularly.
I was just telling what kind of rice is more popular is Kerala, but nowadays white rice is also becoming more popular as this is more easy to prepare (because of less cooking time) and so this authentic Kerala style avial recipe can be used to make yummy and healthy avial which can e served along with rice, both brown rice and white rice, for lunch or dinner.
If you serve rice along with sambar and avial, that is one example for a perfect Kerala vegetaian lunch.
Avial recipe Kerala style is made using lots of vegetables in coconut blended with spices.
A little yogurt is added for sourness and also a splash of coconut oil is added for the authentic Kerala touch, and also a few curry leaves are added at the end which adds fragrance and flavor to the dish.
As I already mentioned, traditional authentic avial recipe uses a lot of vegetables.
However, sometimes avial can be made using just a few vegetables as well, for example, vegetables like potatoes are used as a major ingredient to make potao avial, raw green plantains are used to make plantain avial (known as nenthrakkaya avial where nenthrakkaya denotes plantains in malayalam language) and tomatoes, either green or ripe ones, are used to make tomato avial.
So these are just few examples where only one vegetable is mainly used as an ingredient to make the avial. However the most popular authentic Kerala style avial recipe uses many number of vegetables in the preparation.
As I already mentioned, coconut is another major ingredient of Kerala avial recipe.
Kerala avial/aviyal is one of the main dishes for Kerala vegetarian feast (known as Kerala sadya) as well, which is usually served in fresh banana leaves for all Kerala celebrations including marriages and festivals like Onam.
How To Make Kerala Style Avial?
So here is how we can prepare Kerala avial recipe. Just chop the vegetables into medium sized pieces lengthwise and evenly just like you do for sambar recipes.
You can use either yogurt or tamarind extract (along with fresh tomatoes) to add sourness to the recipe.
I almost always use yogurt and tomatoes in avial recipes, so I really don’t use tamarind extract.
But if you don’t want to use yogurt, I recommend using tamarind extract (tamarind paste about the size of half of a lemon dissolved in water and filtered).
You may also use raw mango pieces to add sourness, instead of adding yogurt or tamarind.
In this avial recipe, we are using yogurt along with one tomato which adds enough sourness to the avial.
You can add a few cashew nuts to make the avial recipe more delicious!
So here is how you can make authentic Kerala style mixed vegetable aviyal recipe following this authentic avial recipe Kerala style.
Authentic Kerala Style Mixed Vegetables Avial Recipe Below
Avial Recipe Kerala Style
Ingredients
- raw green plantains 1 peeled and chopped lengthwise
- potatoes 1
- cucumber ½
- brinjal eggplant 1 small or ¼ cup chopped if using large ones
- drumsticks 1
- tomatoes 1
- carrot ½ of a carrot
- string beans 2 to 3
- green chilies 1 to 2 optional
- more vegetables as you wish ¼ cup
- raw cashew nuts 8 to 10 optional
- yogurt 1 tablespoon
- salt as required
- water 1 to 2 cups
- coconut oil 1 tablespoon
- turmeric powder ½ teaspoon
- red chili powder ½ teaspoon
For Grinding
- Grated coconut 1 Cup
- Cumin seeds or cumin seeds powder 1 teaspoon
- green chilies 1
- curry leaves 2 to 3 numbers
Instructions
- Wash and chop all vegetables uniformly. As I mentioned above, you can peel the vegetables and cut them lengthwise into medium sized pieces. Cucumbers need not be peeled, you can just remove the seeds and cut them up.
- In a pan, add the chopped vegetables except tomatoes along with water and salt and bring the water to boil.
- Meanwhile grind together the ingredients needed for grinding (without using water) - coconut, green chilies, cumin seeds and curry leaves. You don't have to grind it too much, just grind them for few seconds, so they will get blended together.
- As the water starts boiling, add turmeric powder and red chili powder.
- Add the cashew nuts also to the pan, if you are using cashew nuts.
- Add the mix of coconut blended with spices (the one we prepared by grinding just now).
- Close the pan with lid, reduce the heat to low flames and then cook for about 5 to 6 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked enough.
- Add chopped tomatoes, cook for another 2 minutes.
- Meanwhile beat the yogurt in a bowl to avoid any lumps.
- Add the yogurt to the avial, mix well very gently.
- Add the coconut oil and curry leaves, mix again gently.
- Switch off the stove and transfer the avial to the serving dish.
- Avial is ready to be served now, enjoy the avial along with rice and yogurt or sambar or any other gravy for the delicious Kerala style lunch!
I hope you found this avial recipe Kerala style helpful in making South Indian Kerala style avial for lunch or dinner.
Leave a Reply