Avial Recipe | Kerala Style Aviyal - ONAM Sadya Recipes

Every cuisine offers its unique taste even if it has several common ingredients in between them.Coconut is one such common ingredient which is used abundantly on a daily basis in both Kerala and Karnataka cuisines though the flavors and taste of the dishes differ with the additional masalas added in each dish.While I do not prepare many kerala recipes regularly, I like to indulge in few of them once in a while. A few dishes like avial,Appam-vegetable stew,puttu-kadala curry,neyyappam, few kheer varieties do feature once in a while in my cooking.

Avial is basically mixed vegetables mixed in ground coconut and yogurt gravy, which reflects the rich coconut flavor in each and every bite.Ideally, avial is served with adai and is a well known combo. I am not fond of the adai and avial combo or I can say I am too lazy to prepare avial for adai when a simple chutney would go nice with adai.I know its just an excuse,but I usually pair avial with plain white rice.We like Avial in a slightly gravy form than a very thick curry(which is the usual Kerala Avial),so it is your wish to adjust the consistency according to your requirements.

Aviyal Recipe | Mixed Vegetables in Coconut-Yogurt Gravy:
(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh Curd,beaten well
2 tbsp Coconut Oil
a sprig of Curry leaves(12-15 leaves)

Vegetables-peeled and chopped lengthwise:
1 Potato,cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 Raw banana,cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 Carrot,cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 Drumstick,cut into 2" pieces
6-8 French Beans,cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1/4 cup sliced Red Pumpkin
1/4 cup sliced Yam

to grind:
1 cup grated fresh Coconut
1 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
5-6 Green chillies
1 tbsp Rice,soaked for 1 hr
a pinch of Turmeric powder(optional)
Salt to taste
Method:

• In a big pot add water and add chopped vegetables like potatoes,carrots,drumsticks,french beans and let them boil for 5-6 mins until half done.Now add the remaining vegetables ,raw banana,yam,red pumpkin and boil for another 6-8 mins until completely done.Do not make the vegetables mushy,they should be firm to touch and slightly crunch to bite.If you have more water in it remove some.

• Meanwhile grind grated fresh coconut,cumin seeds,soaked rice,green chillies,turmeric powder and salt to a fine paste using little water.
• Add the ground paste to the boiling vegetables and reduce the flame and cook until it comes to a boil for 5-6 mins.Adjust the consistency of the gravy according to your wish.I like it slightly thicker one instead of either dry or thin consistency.
• Heat coconut oil in a small tadka pan until it is luke warm.
• Add curry leaves and heated luke warm coconut oil to the boiling gravy and switch off the flame.Cover it with lid,this will help in retaining the flavor.
• When it is warm add beaten curds and mix well and serve it.You can add the beaten curds and simmer for another 2-3 mins,but do stir continuously in order to avoid the curdling.
  

Serve it with hot rice/dosa/adai.
Notes:

1. You can also add vegetables like snake gourd,chow-chow,white pumpkin and peas to avial.
2. Always retain the crunch of vegetables which is a key to good aviyal.
3. Do not skip coconut oil in the recipe which adds a typical Kerala touch to the recipe.
4. If you want a white colored Avial avoid turmeric powder in the recipe.Also add slit green chillies to the boiling vegetables instead of grinding to a paste with coconut.
5. Cut the vegetables uniformly for even cooking.

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Yam fry | Kandagadda Fry

If you ask me about my comfortable meal, my answer would be always 'a simple fry and rasam with rice' and I never get tired of eating this kind of meal as I grew up eating it.But the real challenge is how to make a crispy and tasty fry with out much oil. Thanks to the oven, my job is easy as it always gives a perfect low fat crispy fry. Though many deep fry the vegetable to get crispy fry,my mom used to fry the vegetables over low flame with less oil but it is really time consuming and also requires constant attention. After I started using the oven, I started using it for various things like this on daily basis other than just baking cakes and breads in it.I have mentioned three different ways to make this fry and you can follow it according to your preference and liking.

Ingredients:
250 gms Yam/Kandagadda
3/4 tsp Red chili powder
1 tbsp Tamarind pulp
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tsp Oil
Method:

• Cut the outer layer of the skin using a sharp knife and cut yam into thin slices(4-5mm) into triangles,rectangles and squares.Drop them in water until its usage.
• Pressure cook yam slices with tamarind water and turmeric powder for 1 whistle or cook on stove until it is 3/4th cooked.Drain them and let it cool completely.
• Now follow any of these 3 methods which I mentioned below.I followed the oven method which is healthy and less calorie version and also yields very crispy fry.

method1:

• Line the baking tray with silver foil and arrange these slices in a single layer and sprinkle some oil over it and bake in oven at 150 deg for 25-30 mins.Keep an eye after 20 mins so that they will not get burnt.If the edges are crispy and changes its color means its done.
• Heat 1tsp of oil in a non stick pan and add the oven fried yam slices and fry over medium flames for 3-4 mins.Add salt and red chili powder and give a nice saute at the end which helps in coating the slices with red chili powder.

method2:

• Deep fry them in oil until golden brown and crisp.
• Heat 1tsp of oil in a non stick pan and add the oven fried yam slices and fry over medium flames for 3-4 mins.Add salt and red chili powder and give a nice saute at the end which helps in coating the slices with red chili powder.

method3:

• In a wide non-stick kadai heat 2 tbsp oil and arrange the yam slices in a single layer and let them fry for 4-5 mins until crisp on one side and turn them to the other side and fry them again for 4-5 mins.
• Add salt and red chili powder and give a nice saute at the end which helps in coating the slices with red chili powder.

Serve it fresh and hot with hot rice,dal/rasam and papad.

Notes:

1. Do not cover the fry once it is done as it will make it soggy,so always try to make it fresh before having it.
2. You can follow any of these same methods for vegetables like arbi/colocasia and potatoes (pressure cook first peel skin and slice into rounds and follow any of the three methods),ladies finger,tindora and brinjal(just slice it and follow any of the methods).
3. You can add different masalas like garlic chili powder or curry powder or sabzi masala instead of red chili powder for different variations.
4. You can even add curry leaves while frying the vegetable on the tawa.
5. Do not bake in oven for long time until it is very crisp as it makes the fry very hard and crispy,once the edges are crisp and the top layer is slightly crisp it is enough to remove.This gives a crispier bite with soft flesh inside for the vegetable.
   

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