Aviyal

[teena]

No festival is complete without 'sadya' for Keralites.Sadya is a traditional way of eating rice with so many curries and side dishes,spicy,sweet and sour, laid out in a banana leaf and to be eaten with bare hand.'Arupathinalum koottiyoroonu'....is a popular saying about the grandeur of the Kerala Sadya, which means a Sadya with 64 curries!!Mind blowing,isn't it?!! I don't know how they would have prepared this grand curry mela!No 'sadya' is complete without Aviyal, a very healthy mixed vegetable curry which has won fans all over the world.According to one popular legend Aviyal was first prepared by 'Pakkanar' of the famous 'Parayipetta Panthirukulam' using all left over vegetables and it seems the dish became a hit! Here is that hit recipe.

Ingredients

Raw banana- 2 nos
Elephant yam - 1 cup
Carrots(big) - 2 nos
Drumstick - 2 nos
Potato - 1/2 cup
Snake Gourd - 1/2 cup
Kumbalanga - 1/2 cup
Beans - 3 nos
Green chillies - 4 nos or as reqd
Raw mango - 1 slice(optional)
Water - marginally higher to the level of vegetables in the pan,
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt - As reqd

For grinding:-
Grated coconut - 2 cups
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Baby shallots - 8 nos(optional)
Curd - 1/2 cup

Method
Chop all the vegetables into 1/2 inch thick pieces.Cook vegetables with water, salt and turmeric powder.Meanwhile grind together coconut, cumin seeds, curry leaves, small onions and a little curd(as mango can be sour enough).Once the vegetables are cooked, add the ground paste. Cook, till the rawness of the coconut is gone. Do not cook for too long, as the whole curry will dry up.Then add oil (coconut oil if you want the authentic kerala flavour) and mix well.