Aviyal

      Our mother nature has given us enough and enough. Water, vegetables, fruits, lentils.... In fact if eaten in its most natural form. But we are far away from it, we are use to cooking, spicing it up etc. But anyways, something that I like about South Indian vegetarian cooking is for its simplicity. You don't meddle with spices as you do with North Indian recipes. But end of it, no compromise on taste and definitely no compromise on the nutrition quotient. One such a recipe is, AVIYAL...


Verdict:
                A blend of all vegetables floating in coconut paste, which end of it you drizzle with Coconut oil... hmmm..... Yummy. Here goes the recipe. I recommend trying it with the choice of your vegetable and come up with innovative versions. Aviyal, white rice with papad goes good in combination on the platter. But if you make Aviyal in thick consistency it goes as side dish too.

               
Ingredients:

 Group 1: Drumstick - 1 long stick, Carrot  - One big sized,  Green peas - handful, Beans - 7 to 8 nos
 Group 2: Potato  - 2 medium sized,  Raw banana - 2 nos
            Coconut grated - 1 Cup , Green chillies - 2 to 3 long chillies, Cumin seeds, rice flour 1 spoon
                  Turmeric powder
                  Tamarind pulp - say smaller than a size of a lemon, soaked in water.
                  Edible Coconut oil
                  Mustard seeds
                  Oil to make tadka. 
                  Salt to taste

Items needed:

                  Kadai
                  Spatula
                  Grinder or food processor
                  Mixie Jar


Way to go:

• Chop all vegetables to one inch sticks. They should more or less look alike in their shape. Keep them aside.
•  On other hand, blend grated coconut, green chillies, cumin seeds, rice floor 1 spoon with little water and salt into a nice paste. Keep this aside.
•  Take a kadai and boil the vegetables (except raw banana and potato) in water, and add turmeric powder and little salt while you cook them.  You can also add curry leaves in this stage. You can close the kadai to hasten the process. Cook in low-medium flame for 5 mts.
•  Once vegetables are half cooked, add sliced raw banana and potato and cook for few more minutes. We do this way becoz these vegetables cook faster than the rest.
• Extract tamarind juice and add it to the above mixture and cook till raw small goes off.
•  Ensure you do not get the vegetables mashed up or mushy. So never over cook the contents.
•  Once tamarind raw smell goes off, add the paste you made with coconut and cook for few more mts till all mixes well to give a good taste.
• Add salt to taste and adjust it if needed.If done, turn off the flame.
• Finally make a tadka with mustard seeds and curry leaves and add it to the aviyal.
•  To give it extra rich taste, drizzle aviyal with coconut oil, mix it well before serving.

Aviyal is either eaten as side dish or can be mixed with white rice and eaten. If you want the latter, ensure you make Aviyal in pouring consistency. That means you can increase the quantity of water while boiling vegetables.