Kerala Avial Recipe (Aviyal) is a must-have if you love South Indian cooking. It is a comforting mix of veggies like drumsticks, raw banana, pumpkin, yam, and more, all simmered in a creamy coconut and yogurt gravy. This is the star dish of the sadya, those big festive meals served on banana leaves. It's colorful, packed with flavor, giving you a little bit of everything on one plate, and is a true celebration of taste and tradition..
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Why will you love this dish?
- The gravy has a base of coconut, green chilies, cumin, and yogurt. This combination of cooked vegetables in a gravy base is a great treat for the taste buds.
- Loved by most people for its subtle, mild, and unique taste.
- Goes well with rice and is part of the Kerala sadya.
- Very easy to make and needs minimal effort, like the asparagus in a stir fry, once you have all the veggies chopped.
- This dish's got a fun mix of unique veggies, like the layered vegetable biryani and vegetable hakka noodles recipes.
- Even people who aren't big on vegetables will be into Aviyal, especially with that creamy coconut yogurt sauce bringing it all together.
Ingredients you will need
- mixed vegetables cut lengthwise (carrots, beans, drumsticks, white melon, pumpkin, yam), green chillies, and curry leaves
- coconut grated - if using frozen, thaw to room temperature and use
- yogurt room temperature and beaten well
- spices - cumin seeds and turmeric
- Pantry essentials - salt and coconut oil.
How to make Avial using Kerala Avial recipe?
This is one of the simplest dishes to make if you have all the vegetables already chopped. The veggies are usually cut into an inch-long length so they cook uniformly. Raw bananas and yams are the main vegetables used. You can also add carrots, beans, drumsticks, yellow and white pumpkins, gourds, potatoes, and the like.
Cook them in a heavy-bottom pan or a pressure cooker for a whistle with very little water, turmeric, and salt. Once cooked, add the curry leaves and ground coconut and cumin mixture. The gravy can be coarse-ground or smooth, authentically, it is ground coarsely. Add beaten yogurt and mix well. Drizzle with coconut oil, and the dish is ready to be served.
- Step 1: Cook the veggies with very little water, turmeric, and salt.
- Step 2: Add curry leaves and keep cooking until done.
- Step 3: Grind grated coconut, green chilies, and cumin coarsely with very little water.
- Step 4: The mixture should look something like this once done.
- Step 5: Add the ground mixture to the cooked veggies.
- Step 6: Mix well and let all the water evaporate.
- Step 5: Reduce the flame and add beaten yogurt, ensuring it does not curdle.
- Step 6: Combine well, drizzle a little coconut oil, and serve!
If you like this dish, you may also like the other dishes served in the sadya: authentic Kerala sambar, puli inchi, recipe of beetroot pachadi, olan, payaru thoran, pavakka theeyal, mambazha pulissery, and parippu payasam . Enjoy!
Useful Tips
- Cut the vegetables uniformly so they cook evenly.
- Add very little water while cooking the vegetables so the consistency is maintained.
- Grind the coconut coarsely with very little water.
- Let the beaten yogurt be at room temperature before adding it to the veggies so that it does not curdle.
- A drizzle of coconut oil helps give an authentic taste.
Recipe FAQs
Cook it until well done, but the veggies should hold their shape and not get mushed up. Adding the right amount of water and cooking it covered on a low flame will help achieve this.
Carrots, beans, drumsticks, white melon, pumpkin, yam, cluster beans, broad beans, beans, snake gourd, and plantain can be used.
Related Recipes
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Kerala Avial Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups vegetables cut length wise (carrots, beans, drumstick,white melon,pumpkin,yam)
- 1 cup coconut grated
- 1 cup yogurt
- 2 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 stalk curry leaves
- 2 tsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Boil the vegetables with turmeric and salt in just enough water
- Add curry leaves and cook well.
- Grind coconut, green chilies and cumin to a coarse paste.
- Add the ground paste to the cooked vegetables and simmer for a while.
- Reduce the flame and add beaten yogurt and combine well, taking care not to curdle.
- Add curry leaves and a few drops of coconut oil. Mix well.
- Aviyal is ready to be served and can be eaten with rice or rotis.
Notes
- Cut the vegetables uniformly so they cook evenly.
- Add very little water while cooking the vegetables so the consistency is maintained.
- Grind the coconut coarsely with very little water.
- Let the beaten yogurt be at room temperature before adding it to the veggies so that it does not curdle.
- A drizzle of coconut oil helps give an authentic taste.
This looks like the ultimate comfort food, I can't wait to make this!
This worked exactly as written, thanks!
Such a fun, tasty side dish!!! We all loved the flavor profile, too!
Thank you so much!
I love Indian cuisine; it is such an aromatic and unique dish! This veggie-packed recipe was easy and so delicious. Often Indian recipes are a bit difficult for Westerners to find all the ingredients.
Thank you so much for the wonderful comment, glad you liked it! This recipe is simple, yet delicious with minimal spices and ingredients. Yes it is true many Indian recipes have ingredients that may be sometimes hard to find. Local Indian groceries usually carry most of them.
nvr tried this recipe but heared a lot about this. looking delicious.
Thank you very much, it is definitely liked by many !
Lovely recipe. I have had aviyal many times in Delhi
Thank you Pooja! It is quite simple to make.
yummy
Thank you so much Deepa!
Looks delicious 🙂
Thank you so much!
Sambar & aviyal, my all time favorite, it looks creamy and delicious!
Thanks dear , yes sambar and aviyal is a great combination !
yummy --
One of my favourites.. 😀 your recipe looks yummy!!
Love aviyal..my version is little deviate from this.. this looks yum
Thank you Lathiya, yes I have seen and had different versions of this recipe as well 🙂
I loved Aviyal...had eaten in one restaurant and always wanted to make it myself..now i got the perfect recipe..Thank you so much for sharing and lovely presentation !!
So happy to hear that. Thank you so much Anshu!
I love both yogurt and coconut, but usually use them together in sweet dishes. I love this savory combination! Hope to try it soon. 🙂
Thanks so much Ronit!I am sure you will love the savory combination of this dish, the veggies ,yogurt and coconut mixture gives a nice unique flavor.
So brilliantly simple! Just the thought of this dish makes me hungry. I think you just helped me figure out dinner tonight. 🙂
Thank you so much ! Happy to hear that ,yes indeed! very simple and easy to make and tastes great, am sure you will love it!