Aviyal (Indian vegetable stew with coconut & yogurt)
 Recipe){kind=link}
Nutritional Info
- Servings Per Recipe: 8
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories: 89.3
- Total Fat: 2.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0.6 mg
- Sodium: 56.9 mg
- Total Carbs: 15.4 g
- Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
- Protein: 2.5 g
View full nutritional breakdown of Aviyal (Indian vegetable stew with coconut & yogurt) calories by ingredient
Introduction
This is a peasant dish from Kerala. Daily fare, in other words, made with whatever vegetables are in season. Since it's a Kerala dish, it's got two very typical ingredients: coconut and plantains. The rest of the dish is built around these two stars of the Kerala kitchen. If you can find them, use a few pieces of drumsticks (NOT meat - these are a vegetable from Southern India!!) - you may be able to find them frozen in your local Asian supermarket or Indian store. Curry leaves, too, will be available right beside those drumsticks at any reputable Indian store - you may even luck out and be able to buy fresh curry leaves at most Indian stores.Use a mixture of root vegetables and squashes for the best effect. The recipe here is not what you'd make in India - hadn't seen zucchini and turnips when I was growing up, but, as with all peasant dishes, it's a *very* adaptable dish. Throw in whatever suits YOUR tastebuds!
Use coconut oil if you've got it - it really gives a most authentic flavour to the dish. Canola works just as well, but has less flavour. This is a peasant dish from Kerala. Daily fare, in other words, made with whatever vegetables are in season. Since it's a Kerala dish, it's got two very typical ingredients: coconut and plantains. The rest of the dish is built around these two stars of the Kerala kitchen. If you can find them, use a few pieces of drumsticks (NOT meat - these are a vegetable from Southern India!!) - you may be able to find them frozen in your local Asian supermarket or Indian store. Curry leaves, too, will be available right beside those drumsticks at any reputable Indian store - you may even luck out and be able to buy fresh curry leaves at most Indian stores.
Use a mixture of root vegetables and squashes for the best effect. The recipe here is not what you'd make in India - hadn't seen zucchini and turnips when I was growing up, but, as with all peasant dishes, it's a *very* adaptable dish. Throw in whatever suits YOUR tastebuds!
Use coconut oil if you've got it - it really gives a most authentic flavour to the dish. Canola works just as well, but has less flavour.
Number of Servings: 8
Ingredients
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1 cup plantains
.5 cup turnips
.5 cup hard yellow yams (NOT sweet potatoes)
.5 cup zucchini
.5 cup cucumber (with peel)
.5 cup carrots, raw
4 hot green chili peppers
.5 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
.5 cup fat-free plain yogurt
A dash of salt
A pinch of ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
.25 tsp cumin seed
6 curry leaves
1 tsp coconut oil or canola oil
Directions
Wash all the vegetables, scrubbing the dirt off the root veggies. Cut all of them into roughly equal sized sticks (like the carrot sticks you get with chicken wings!), about 1.5 to 2 inches long. This helps them cook at an even pace - very important when you've got both root veggies and squashes. The squashes will cook in next to no time ...
In a blender, blend together (with the minimum of water) the shredded coconut and the green chilies (which you can omit if you choose to) and whirrrrrr for about 20 seconds. Set aside while you cook the rest.
Over medium heat, heat a cup of water and toss in the hardest of the root vegetables, typically the yellow yams (these are the hard yellow yams, not the sweet potatoes - expect a fibrous skin like yucca). Add salt, turmeric and the powdered cumin.
When the yams (or whatever) have softened a bit (a minute or two of cooking), add in, one at a time, the other root vegetables you're using. Add a little more water if you need to - keeping the pot covered usually helps retain the steam so you don't need too much water.
Once the root veggies are beginning to soften (another minute or two) add in the squashes (cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, whatever) and green beans if you're using them. Cook for another minute or two till the squashes begin to go translucent.
Add in the blended coconut/hot-chilies mixture and stir *carefully*.
Add a bit of water to the yogurt and stir till smooth. Reduce heat to very low and add in the stirred, diluted yogurt.
On a separate burner of the stove, heat the teaspoon of oil on high heat. When the oil is hot, toss in the cumin seeds and curry leaves and let heat until the cumin seeds plump up (a few seconds). Turn off the heat under the oil and pour the oil/cumin/curry leaves over the aviyal. Stir once *carefully* to distribute the oil in the dish (you *want* a little pool of oil/cumin/curry-leaf on the top for presentation purposes).
Serve hot with rice and dal (preferably parippu - another Kerala speciality).
Number of Servings: 8
Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user BIGGIRL208.
In a blender, blend together (with the minimum of water) the shredded coconut and the green chilies (which you can omit if you choose to) and whirrrrrr for about 20 seconds. Set aside while you cook the rest.
Over medium heat, heat a cup of water and toss in the hardest of the root vegetables, typically the yellow yams (these are the hard yellow yams, not the sweet potatoes - expect a fibrous skin like yucca). Add salt, turmeric and the powdered cumin.
When the yams (or whatever) have softened a bit (a minute or two of cooking), add in, one at a time, the other root vegetables you're using. Add a little more water if you need to - keeping the pot covered usually helps retain the steam so you don't need too much water.
Once the root veggies are beginning to soften (another minute or two) add in the squashes (cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, whatever) and green beans if you're using them. Cook for another minute or two till the squashes begin to go translucent.
Add in the blended coconut/hot-chilies mixture and stir *carefully*.
Add a bit of water to the yogurt and stir till smooth. Reduce heat to very low and add in the stirred, diluted yogurt.
On a separate burner of the stove, heat the teaspoon of oil on high heat. When the oil is hot, toss in the cumin seeds and curry leaves and let heat until the cumin seeds plump up (a few seconds). Turn off the heat under the oil and pour the oil/cumin/curry leaves over the aviyal. Stir once *carefully* to distribute the oil in the dish (you *want* a little pool of oil/cumin/curry-leaf on the top for presentation purposes).
Serve hot with rice and dal (preferably parippu - another Kerala speciality).
Number of Servings: 8
Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user BIGGIRL208.
Member Ratings For This Recipe
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1RETSGM
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CD13603373