Friday, May 10, 2013

Aviyal - Mixed Vegetable Stew





 Aviyal  is an authentic kerala mixed vegetable stew and no sadya (a traditional lunch) is complete without the aviyal. Even People who hate eating vegetables will love absolutely love this mixed vegetables cooked in coconut and spices.
Its saji's favourite he can gobble up a whole bowl of this in no time. In the early days of our marriage I knew saji loved aviyal and all I had to do was call my mom to get the recipe but being the "I know everything" me I never asked her the nitty gritty details of it. Anyway he absolutely loved it every time I made it but there were a few shortcomings 1. mine was too watery! 2. if eaten soon after cooking it was superb but after a few hours the yogurt in the aviyal started to give out a tangy taste that was quite outstanding. The aviyal was good but not great. I don't know what went wrong but I made it anyway. And since it was ok I never bothered to ask my mom again.
Only last year (when I was home in Chennai for Alan's birth)  I learnt the trick to make the perfect aviyal while I saw my mom in action! The trick to the awesome taste was to have the perfect combination of vegetables, to avoid it being too watery use a pressure cooker! and cook the stew for a minute or two more after adding the yogurt. So now I have the secret to mom's yummy aviyal. However the combination of vegetables used vary from house to house, you can always use your own set of mixed vegetables but I personally feel that the drumsticks and green plantain is a must as they add  more flavour  to the dish. Aviyal is mostly eaten with rice my parents love to eat it with roti's too. So her goes the recipe for the perfect aviyal.




 

Aviyal recipe:



Notes :

  • I cooked the aviyal in a pressure cooker without the weight on hence keep a close watch so that you don't burn it also keep the flame on low through out the cooking process.
  • Garlic is totally optional my mom uses it. And I think it add's flavour.
  • I have used only 3 green chilles (medium hot) you can use more to make it spicy.


1 comment:

  1. Mom is proud to see your Avial. Well done sis :)

    ReplyDelete


Author

singapore, Singapore
Hello, Welcome to Eleventeen Recipes and counting authored by me, Shibi. This blog is an outlet to share my love for food, cooking and clicking. It includes a collection of traditional recipes from my mom, mother-in-law, sister and friends kitchens, and a few from cook books, other food blogs, and a few of my own experiments. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Thank you.